The crazy ride called Life
by I-am-the-Wolf
Summary: "Well..." Mathew muttered as he thought back to what the Hungarian girl had told him, "Shit happened." "Naw," The Albino replied, giving him an oddly serious look, "Life happened, and you just weren't able to hold on for the ride." Mathew ends up in the psych-unit in the Hetalian hospital for sick children due to an invisibility complex, where he meets some very interesting people.
1. In the beginning

**A/N: Well hello there and welcome to my first Hetalia fanfiction :3!**

**There's not much to say besides this will be an AU story with content that might not be for everyone. The main events take place in an adolescent psych ward in a children's hospital. Also, there will be no main pairings until maybe later on, though it will feature PruCan friendship.  
**

**Anwyas, Warning time!**

**Warnings for the whole story include: Mentions of suicidal thoughts, different mental illnesses and probably mentions of drug use (whether medical or not). Also, there will probably be some yaoi later on in the story, though nothing major. All you really gotta worry about in this chapter though is a small mention of suicidal thoughts and maybe some swearing. **

**On with the show!**

**Ohwait, the disclaimer! I don't own the characters that are used, they are owned by Hidekaz Himaruya, and I'm just a lowly teenager.**

**o.0.o**

Even after everything that had happened, part of Matthew was just glad everything stopped moving.

It felt like for the entirety of his day, things had moved like some entity had pressed the fast forward button on the remote that controlled 16-year-old Matthew's life, while at the same time pressing the slow-mo button when it came to the separate events that occurred today… they had passed by each other as slowly as molasses being poured out of a jar.

Trying to distract himself on thoughts of the days happenings, the boy carefully rolled himself onto his side- carefully because the bed was unusually high and he really didn't want to fall off of it, especially not when there was a person outside his door watching him, making sure he fell asleep. The man was a stranger, barely introduced, but the kindly staff member that had gotten Matthew setup for bed had called the man his "security guard," so Matthew supposed that's what he was.

_Security from what though? Something from outside this room, or security from myself?_

Feeling saddened from that last thought, Matthew groped a hand on the other side of his person looking for his stuffed polar bear. Locating the polar bear and tucking it under his chin, Matthew gazed at the man through the curtain of blond hair that had fallen over his face... he was looking right at him, but still Matthew felt like the man was looking through him. Would he even notice if Mathew took a tumble? The dark side of Matthew's brain wanted to test the theory, but Matthew was well adept at silencing the dark side of his personality, especially when said dark side was suggesting something that required bodily harm.

Matthew huffed silently and rolled over onto his other side, clutching the polar bear closer to his chest and burying his face into its fur.

Even after 14 years of the bear being Matthews near-constant companion (near-constant because he realized at age 8 that keeping the bear at home might save him from being teased and bullied at school), its fur remained somewhat shaggy and still at a shade close enough to white that it was often overlooked as such.

Because Matthew had been only 2 when the kindly Japanese friend of his mother had bestowed the bear onto Matthew, he had taken it upon himself to name the bear, even though it was a name that Matthew himself couldn't properly pronounce until he was 9. By now, Matthew could barely remember the bears full name, and he, more often then not, made up the last part. Even so, the bear was by far one of Matthews best friends, and this whole damn situation would have been a lot worse with out Kuma-whatsit.

These were one of those few-and-far-between moments that Matthew was desperately thankful for his half-brother, Alfred's, existence.

Bringing the bear along to the emergency room was something Matthews brother Alfred had called a "preemptive strike," (Alfred had been really into military jargon lately) for he figured that pigs would fly before his younger (*cough* by half a week *cough*) brother didn't get a room in the adolescent psych unit of the Hetalian Hospital for Sick Children (commonly known as just, "Hetalia"). Even with how... er... _unconventional_... poor Matthews case was.

Have you ever heard of someone being suicidal because they had an "Invisibility complex?" No? Well join the crowd. If the mass of people Matthew had to talk to/be examined by just in the _emergency room _was anything to go on, Matthew knew that a good chunk of his stay here would be spent being something akin to a psychological lab rat. Ah, why did it always happen that the boy who just wanted a bit more attention only gained that attention in its negative form?

And thus was the irony of Matthew's life.

With that sobering thought under Matthews belt, the boy drifted into an uneasy sleep.

**o.0.o**

Sleep didn't offer much solace though, for the entirety of the night was spent revisiting the days happenings, with the annoying distortion that the dream world usually offered to memory related dreams.

For example, when Matthew first fell asleep he found himself back in his Therapists office where he was this very morning. His brother Alfred was seated in the chair next to him, for he had accompanied him to his appointment out of worry, and his therapist was sitting across from them. When Matthew took it upon himself to scan the room, he saw with growing horror that there was a sinister looking clown standing in the corner of the room, that no one seemed to notice but himself.

Damn you Stephen King, and damn his Dad who thought it was O.K for a eleven-year-old kid, although a bright one, to read It, and then let him watch the movie to boot.

He still didn't know what gave him nightmares more.

Anyways, scenes continued to switch around in the fluid way dreams had, which made you wonder if there was actually anything in the dream before the present moment. At this moment though, Matthew was getting quite fed up with how his subconscious was changing around these delicate memories, and making him relive them as well! It just wasn't fair.

This continued most of the night. And, just because Matthew's subconscious just _hated_ him, it added more and more things Matthew found scary with each change of scene. These things included, though was not limited to, clowns, chainsaws, clowns with chainsaws and leeches. Damn bloody **big **leeches that could some how survive out of the water.

Waking up in the morning to the sound of bickering outside his room was actually a big relief. It saved him from the scene he had just been in where he was sitting in the emergency room talking to one of the doctors, who had changed into a zombie half way through the talk. He still had the sound of Dr. Edelstein demanding brains in his ears as he blearily opened his eyes, cursing the zombie games his half-brother made him play on a near constant basis as he did.

**o.0.o  
**

**And there you have it! The first chapter! **

**I would like to thank Someone's Black Kettle for giving this chapter a look over for me, and speaking of which, you gotta give her story a read! It's called "Conquest 1521", it's a spamano and it is awesome. **


	2. A few new faces

**A/N: Hello again! There's nothing much to say besides the last chapter has been edited slightly, which includes the authors announcement. I really hope people like what I've got going here!**

**Anyways, Warnings for this chapter (to see stories over-all warnings, see first chapter):  
**

**Lovino. Must I say more? There's also some talk of suicidal intent, but nothing more then that.  
**

**I would like to thank Someone's Black Kettle for editing.  
**

*** Reedited Sept 20th**

**o.0.o**

Matthew stretched and sat up, rubbing his eyes as he did so. Half blind, he felt a hand along the shill of the window that was at the head of his bed, looking for his glasses. Successfully locating his red, rectangular wireframe glasses, he pushed them onto the bridge of his nose and turned towards the bickering people in his doorway. With a small smile, he realized that the shorter of the two men was actually doing most of the bickering. The other, a quite strapping individual almost a whole head taller than the former, seemed just plain happy to be talking to the shorter, only adding his two cents when it seemed necessary to keep the conversation/argument going.

"But Lovino, we just can't snap back at a patient, even if the patient was being a bit of a bra- Oh! Matthew! You're awake!" the taller one said as he noticed Matthew sitting up on his bed, examining the two people that had just walked into his room. As Matthew took in the taller one's bright green eyes, curly dark-brown hair and cheerful disposition, Matthew instantly decided that he liked this man.

Lovino, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter. He was leaning against the doorframe with a downright _sour_ look on his rounded face. He didn't seem pleased one bit that his argument had been interrupted. Matthew noted that he had rather unusual hazel eyes that seemed to have an almost amber tone to them. His hair was straight and brown, except for an odd strand of curling hair that stuck up to the side of his face as if it was giving a proverbial middle finger to gravity. Matthew wasn't exactly sure how he felt about this guy.

"Well, I'm Antonio, and this is Lovino! Hey Lovi, why don't you give the rest of intro speech? I'm sure you heard me say it enough times~" The man, Antonio, practically sang, as he looked towards the shorter man, Lovino, and then took a step back in an obvious sign for Lovino to take the lead.

"Hmm, all right," Lovino muttered, taking a few steps forward and shoving his hands into his pockets. "So it's like this, me and the toma- I mean _Antonio _are going to be your staff for today. We're nurses here. Well, actually, Antonio is the nurse, he's my supervisor- I'm _technically_ still in school. Usually you wouldn't get nurses on your first day, but you're just special like that," He said, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Anyways," he continued, a downright _evil _smirk replacing the sour look, which Antonio only had a moment to notice before Lovino plowed right ahead, "When I say we'll be your staff for the day, what I mean is we're gonna be following you around like two lost puppies wherever you go. The one place we _won't_ follow you in is the bathroom. Thankfully. Then again, if this guy is in the middle of a conversation with you," he said, pointing a thumb towards Antonio, "He'll follow you into the bathroom and continue talking to you while you're trying to take a piss or a shit." He finished, a triumphant look on his face. This was probably for the fact he managed to get that all out before being interrupted... something Antonio probably would've done if he wasn't so stunned.

Matthew thought he was going to bust a lung in stopping himself from laughing. Antonio, on the other hand, didn't seem to find the so called 'speech' at all funny. His ever present smile had a fixed look to it now, and he was at least two shades paler then his normal tanned complexion.

"Aha… ha… er, well that was... different…" Antonio muttered, stepping forward to stand beside Lovino, flashing him a look that obviously said 'You're in trouble!' "We'll be right back with your breakfast! We didn't know what you'd like so we just ordered something up that we hope won't be too bad! We gotta get you to fill out some menus later, so you can choose what you'd like to eat for the rest of the week."

Matthew just nodded as the two left the room again, and he smiled faintly as he finally placed the man's accent.

_Spanish, definitely Spanish, and if the other guys _not _Italian, I'll eat my hat… if I had a hat._

**o.0.o**

Breakfast, as it turned out, was actually quite wonderful. It consisted of French toast with maple syrup (_fake _maple syrup though, which was one of Matthews pet peeves) a carton of orange juice, strawberry yogourt and a hard-boiled egg- which, Matthew noted wryly while eating, included something from all four-food groups.

After he had finished, Matthew, feeling quite pleasantly stuffed, sat back contentedly in his chair, savouring the last bit of his meal. Then, armed with a new toothbrush and tube of toothpaste (which was generously supplied to him because his cousin hasn't been by yet to give him his essentials) he was led off to the boy's bathroom down the hall.

Lovino and Antonio stayed outside the bathroom as promised, Matthew noted dryly.

After that he was led back to his room where he sat back at the desk where he had eaten breakfast, and was given the so-called menus they wanted him to fill out. Matthew was happy to note that the so called 'menus' actually had a good selection that he could pick from, and as he circled the foods that caught his fancy he made sure to give himself a variety of different choices on a daily basis.

After he had meticulously looked over his choices, he added his name on each one and wrote the date at the bottom (Yes, he was just a touch OCD, so what?) and then he leaned back feeling satisfied that he had done an excellent job.

And Antonio said as much when he sidled up behind Matthew to check how he did on his menus.

"Wow," Antonio said as he looked through Matthew's choices, "I don't think I've seen someone do so well on their first menu filling-out. Most people pick more than one starch or protein, pick the same foods each day or at the very least they forget to write their name and/or date on 'em."

There was a derisive snort from Lovino, who was currently holding up the wall next to the door. Antonio had very kindly pulled up a chair for the other to sit in, but it was left ignored. He refrained from saying anything though, instead, he just pushed himself from the wall and walked towards the other side of Matthew, where he promptly leaned against the wall next to the desk.

_He's pretty lazy... but also very stubborn. _Matthew thought with a small smile.

"We gotta have a talk now, just asking a few 'getting to know you' kind of questions. We used to have something that new patients could fill-out on their own, but we decided to scrap it. Patients would whine about it being too repetitive or something… Also, they ended up becoming a fire hazard after another patient decided to torch it." He said in a bored monotone, and Matthew swore he heard a maniacal cackle sound from somewhere outside his room.

From the annoyed look on Lovino's face and the slightly uneasy look on Antonio's, they had heard it too.

Even though Matthew was now relatively uneasy himself, he couldn't help but wonder how whoever it was got a lighter in here. They locked every possession you came into the hospital with into a cupboard, even your clothes. If you got admitted into the adolescent psych-ward they made you change into these blue scrub-like pyjamas, which had no pockets whatsoever. He had also been told if his cousin brought a razor for him, it would need to be locked up at the reception area, but he could access it whenever he needed to shave. Matthew didn't think his cousin would bring one though. It wasn't like he was going to be here for _that_ long.

"So," Antonio said with somewhat forced cheer, "We'll just push up our chairs and you're fine to sit here or on your bed, and we'll have a little talk, alright?"

"Alright." Matthew talk-whispered, getting up to go sit on the edge of his bed.

When Matthew turned to face his so called 'staff,' he didn't miss the fact that Lovino actually took the chair Antonio pulled up for him, even going as far as to give him a grudging nod of thanks as he settled himself into the chair.

By the downright _ecstatic_ smile Antonio was sporting now, he had noticed it to. Matthew was half worried he'd go blind from it.

"You're going to blind the kid." Lovino muttered sullenly, as if he had read Matthew's mind.

After that, the questions started and went by quite breezily. The first few consisted of the generic question one gets asked near thousands of times in their short lifetime; Questions like, "When's your birthday and when/where were you born?" (I was born on April 17th in Quebec) (Oh wow cool! Your birthday's coming up then!).

There were only two speed-bumps in the conversation, the first being when Antonio asked about Matthew's family, which was a topic Matthew loathed to give much information on, even though he already had to give the whole explanation to the doctors in emergency.

"My family pretty much consists of me, my half-brother Alfred who's older than me by only four days, my twenty-nine-year-old cousin (technically, he's my Mom's cousin) who helped raise me, and my Dad who's on a business trip right now. We've been having trouble reaching him, so you probably won't see him. You'll see a lot of my cousin though because he's listed as my guardian in case of emergencies."

"Oh," Antonio murmured, looking down to write Matthew's answer as a frown creased his brow, "What about your guys' Mothers, Matthew?"

Thankfully Matthew had been expecting this, though he half-wished Antonio would've heeded Lovino's warning look when he asked the could-be destructive question.

"My Mom died when I was three." Matthew bluntly stated. Feeling guilty when he saw looks of shock reflected in both Antonio's and Lovinos eyes, he plowed on ahead, "I don't really remember her though! But it left my Dad with a kid he didn't know he had who couldn't speak any English. My cousin who had been living with us at the time tracked down my Dad, even though he was only sixteen then. As to Alfreds Mom, my Dad had married her when he found out she was pregnant. She left him though when she saw how close in age we were, thinking he had cheated on her." Here Matthew ran a hand through his hair, which was a nervous habit of his, before continuing, "In our Dad's defence though, Alfred is a month premature, so they wouldn't even had _known_ each other that well when I was er… _conceived…" _he muttered, trailing off when he realized he had been rambling. "Alfred see's her maybe once a year, usually during the summer, but she doesn't spare me any goodwill." He concluded sharply, staring at his lap, hoping he didn't sound as sullen as he felt.

"Oh… oh, I'm so sorry Matthew. _Lo siento mucho_." Antonio murmured solemnly, and when Matthew looked up he was surprised to find genuine sympathy in not only Antonio's eyes but also Lovino's, who had a 'I know how you feel,' kind of look on his face.

After that, Antonio skillfully skimmed over any and all questions about family, even though Matthew figured there were more questions like it in the package.

The second, though smaller speed bump came after Matthew explained what had brought him to the hospital, where he had tried to explain to the best of his ability about his so called 'invisibility complex,' a phrase that had been coined by Matthew's Therapist which had become quite commonplace in the Williams-Jones household.

"So, Matthew," Antonio started off carefully, "Since you've been here, have you still felt invisible?"

"The funny thing is," Matthew started off slowly, "No, I really don't feel invisible here. It's probably hard to feel invisible in a psych-ward with all the undivided attention one gets."

"Yes, well I guess that's true. But I have to ask, you said you came here because you were feeling suicidal due to the fact that you felt invisible… do you still feel that now?"

Matthew winced. He knew he should've expected this question, but he really hadn't. "Yes. Actually." He said, even quieter then normal. "The extra attention hasn't really changed that part much, and it's really annoying."

Antonio gave a sad sigh at this, before starting to talk again, "Hmm, well I thought as much. The team of doctors will meet with you tomorrow, and they might want to put you on some kind of anti-depressant… but don't worry! It'll probably just be a small dose, to help you feel better. I just want you to be prepared for that, though." Matthew just nodded as he detachedly noted that Antonio's accent became more pronounced when sad or worried.

**o.0.o**

The rest of the day was rather uneventful, with Antonio and Lovino sitting outside Matthew's room reading their books (well Lovino was reading a book, Antonio seemed to prefer reading magazines or comics) or playing various games with each other. Matthew was positive they even started a rather intense game of 'I spy' at one point. The game stopped though after all the questions started to only consist of, 'What's yellow-' 'The wall,' 'What's flat-' 'The wall,' etc.

Matthew had been given a book to read which ended up being rather good, and he only came out of book-world for meals or bathroom breaks. Lunch came at 12pm and dinner at 5pm, both of which he was allowed to eat in his room, though they had warned him that he'd have to start eating in the lounge with the other in-patients tomorrow at lunch.

Just when he was finishing his dinner there was a flurry of activity that could only mean one thing, the arrival of his French cousin, Francis. Even at a young age, Matthew had held a grudging respect for his cousin's ability to look absolutely flustered but act graceful at the same time. This was demonstrated as he rushed into the room, looking quite haggard but also managing to stride into the room as graceful as a swan.

"Mathieu!" He called, striding over to Matthew and gripping his shoulders, kissing him on both cheeks. _Oh, the joys of having a French relative, _Matthew thought, as his hands twitched minutely with the suppressed desire to wipe at his cheeks. "_Comment allez-vous_?"

"I'm O.K, Francis," Matthew replied in English, not quite feeling up to speaking in French.

"Well I guess that's as much as we can hope for." Francis said, unusually solemn as he let go of Matthew's shoulders and stepped away. Matthew felt a small pain of guilt that the mischievous spark that was usually in his cousin's eyes was extinguished for once. He also noted that the ever-present _look_ his cousin usually sported was absent. It was a look that said (sadly enough) 'Yes, I'm undressing you with my eyes and enjoying every second of it.' That _look_ was never directed at Matthew (of course), but Matthew had seen it directed at so many other people that it had became commonplace for him. He had been a bit too caught up in his own world yesterday to notice the fact that his cousin had refrained from hitting on _anyone during _the day_,_ which, on any other day, was something Francis almost made a sport out of. The slightly disquieting trend seemed to be continuing today.

Antonio coughed pointedly, for Lovino and himself had been totally ignored by Francis in favour of greeting his young cousin.

"Oh! Where are my manners!" Francis exclaimed, spinning around. "My name is Francis Bonnefoy, I am _petit __Mattieu's __cousin plus âgé._"

Matthew still wasn't certain if Francis knew he slipped into French unexpectedly, or if he just added it for extra flair. Matthew couldn't really blame him if it was either- his cousin was as flamboyant as they came while still being as straight (more-or-less) as a needle. And if it was the former, Francis had only learned English when Matthew had needed to learn it as well. He had moved straight from France to Quebec with his older cousin, Matthew's Mom, so there hadn't been a need to learn the language beforehand.

"I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, I'm Matthew's staff until nine o'clock today, and this is Lovino who's still in school learning to become a nurse."

"Nine o'clock?" Matthew piped up confusedly, "But you've been here since nine this morning, that means you'll be here for twelve hours…?"

"Yep," Antonio replied, looking sad, as if mourning the lost sleep, "Me and Lovi are on a 'long' shift today, which lasts for twelve hours. A 'short' shift is eight hours… Which sucks, 'cause either way Lovi and I usually miss our daily _siesta_. Sometimes we can slip away and sleep on the spare beds down in the hallway a-ways, but the boss-people don't like it. They say it's unprofessional." Lovino was looking murderously at Antonio, probably because he had forgotten this fact and it was shoved back into his face.

Francis, in the mean time, looked like he was pondering something as he examined Antonio as he talked. "I know you from somewhere." Francis said at last.

"Oh?" Antonio asked, as he turned towards Francis and stared him down, looking like he was thinking hard.

"Ah-ha!" exclaimed both parties as equal looks of triumph crossed their features.

"You were an older nursing student in University, but we were still friends! You helped me out a lot when I was new! Are you a nurse now Francis?"

"Sadly, _non, _my friend. I dropped out when I realized nursing wasn't for me, but I held our friendship dear to my heart while it lasted." Francis said, looking sad.

"Yeah, I had been wondering what happened to you when you left part way through the year. I thought you transferred to another school." Antonio stated solemnly, nodding his head. "It's sad we didn't keep in contact though! You just disappeared from the face on the earth when you left."

"Well that doesn't mean we can't get back in touch!" Francis exclaimed, clasping Antonio warmly on the shoulder, "With the way technology has flourished, it's much easier to keep in contact with people."

"I'd like that, _amigo_" Antonio concluded with a nod, finally turning back to the other people in the room, both of whom looking bemused.

Lovino had refrained from commenting during the exchange, opting to just shake his head with a light tsking sound.

"So you two know each other." Lovino stated, looking from Francis to Antonio. When they gave a nod in affirmation he continued, "What a small fuckin' city. Damn, even Canada's largest city is sparsely populated… or maybe just over populated… with idiots."

Antonio seemed to have some sort of filter that made him not even hear Lovino's jibes, but that couldn't be said for Francis, who looked quite offended. All Antonio said on the matter was, "Actually, Lovino, we both went to McGill's nursing school in Quebec, so we wouldn't have originally known each other here." Lovino seemed to stiffen slightly at the use of his full name from his supervisor, and Matthew just figured he didn't hear it that often from Antonio. The guy seemed very fond of pet names.

"Well you met up here again, so that's all the matters." Lovino muttered conclusively, giving a huffy sniff as he suddenly found the slightly peeling paint on the doorframe more interesting then the other people in the room.

Matthew, again feeling invisible for the first time since he had gotten to the hospital, walked over to his cousin and tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. It was just his way of making sure he was still noticed by one of the people that mattered most to him.

"Did you bring my stuff?" Mathew murmured quietly, so quietly that his cousin, whose ears were well accustomed with catching Matthew's soft voice, had to strain to hear him.

"Yes, but of course." Francis said softly, handing Matthew a bag. With this exchange made, Antonio muttered something about getting the key to open the cupboard in Matthew's room before he left, leaving Francis and Matthew with Lovino who was still examining the doorframe.

Matthew looked into the bag and was glad his cousin had brought all the essentials; tooth brush, tooth paste, soap, shampoo and conditioner, even his slippers that were rarely used at home. Matthew figured that they would probably become over-used by the end of Matthew's stay here, since he wasn't aloud to wear his shoes. He almost flat out laughed when he came upon the last two items in the bag, which consisted of his razor and a tube of shaving cream.

For most people, this wouldn't be the cause of sudden mirth, but the fact of the matter is, the Bonnefoy's and the Williams (by marriage) just weren't hairy. Matthew couldn't grow hair on his face for the life of him, not yet at least. It was a well-known fact that the little stubble Francis had managed to acquire on his chin took months if not _years _to accomplish, and it was his pride and joy… right after Matthew, of course. Matthew would've gone to bed happy that night if it wasn't for the last thing Francis said to him before heading out again.

"Just in case you need it."

**o.0.o  
**

**A/N: And there you have it, the second chapter! Yes, I know the last line sounds very ominous/confusing, but I'll make sure to explain it and why it makes Matthew upset next chapter, which hopefully will be up next week at the earliest.**

**Translations **

**(Some might not be very accurate because I am using a translator online): **

___Lo siento mucho_ (Spanish): I'm very sorry.

_Comment allez-vous_? (French): How are you?

_Petit Mattieu's cousin plus âgé_ (French): Little Matthews older cousin.

_Non _(French): No.

_Amigo _(Spanish): Friend.


	3. We're off to see the Wizard!

**A/N: At long last here's chapter 3! At least part of it. It got kind of out of hand, so I decided to post it in two parts.**

**On another note, I want to say a HUGE thankyou to AelanRyland011 for reviewing, and to all the people who has followed/fav so far! You guys are awesome :D.  
**

**Hopefully I'll be able to keep a semi-regular posting routine for you guys even after my school starts in a few days, but I can promise you the story will not be dropped! I have Someone's Black Kettle to thank for that, she'll make sure I keep writing XD.  
**

**Speaking of which, I want to thank Someone's Black Kettle for editing this chapter.  
**

**Warnings: Some swearing, mentions of medication. Also I have to warn people the next chapter part won't be that happy, and will deal with more mature subject matter. There will be a big warning for it.  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.**

**o.0.o**

It was 7 in the morning, and Matthew had spent the last 15 minutes staring at his cupboard.

He stared at it with absolute loathing, for to Matthew, the cupboard was the cause of his boredom this morning. If this was any other day, and Matthew was at home, he would have been up, changed, showered and had eaten breakfast by now.

While he knew being in the hospital scrapped 'getting changed,' (he was hoping he could get a new set of pyjamas soon) and that breakfast came up at 8:30am at the earliest, he thought, at the very least, he would have been able to take a shower by now.

Apparently not though, because he couldn't get anything out of his cupboard before 7:30am, which was when more staff arrived and he could get someone to get the keys to open it.

So now he waited.

Usually Matthew had the patience of a saint— he blamed Alfred for that— but with nothing to do, he ended up dwelling on things he didn't want to dwell on. Like, for instance, yesterday evening.

'_Just in case you need it.' _

… Did his cousin really think he'd be in the hospital for that long?

Since he had hit puberty, he had not shaved once. His cousin had told him that he himself only started growing facial hair at around Matthews age, but for him to grow enough hair that it would require shaving it had taken him weeks. Who knows how long he'd have to be here to grow facial hair!

Shaking those melodramatic thoughts from his head, Matthew turned back to the task at hand: glaring at the cupboard.

He had actually been up since 6:30 this morning, which, as he had explained to the lady at reception out of pure boredom, was the normal time he woke up to get ready for school.

Too early, some would say, but to Matthew it was necessary to get through his morning routine. His brother Alfred liked to say that Matthew took a longer time in the bathroom in the mornings then a girl did. Matthew ignored this certain jibe though, because he absolutely detested what Alfred called his 'morning routine.' This 'routine' consisted of him rolling out of bed half an hour (usually less) before he had to leave for school, pulling on the first clothes he could find, and grabbing a piece of toast before leaving. He usually left the showers for the night, which Matthew thought of as a bad habit. If Matthew had been particularly nice that morning, he might've left some breakfast for Alfred, which he would wolf down so fast Matthew was sometimes scared he'd choke.

All these thoughts of his half brother made Matthew remember that Alfred had scheduled a visit sometime today. He had called Matthew last night and had apologized for 10 minutes (Matthew had joked that being in Canada for so long was finally rubbing off of the self acclaimed American) for not being able to see him during the day. He had had school, then work, and then he had found out Francis had scheduled a visit for the evening.

The fact that both Francis and Alfred did not want to visit Matthew at the same time as the other would make one think that they didn't get along, but it was quite the opposite… most of the time. Alfred and Francis usually had a very good relationship, which mainly consisted of friendly teasing. Alfred on Francis' general French-ness, usually, and Francis commenting on the amount of burgers Alfred ate and his lack of cooking skills. It was only when it came to what they thought was best for Matthew that they came at odds with each other.

When Matthew was being admitted into the hospital, they had gotten in a huge argument on who should visit _less_.

Alfred was saying that Francis wasn't good for Matthew in this kind of situation, because he tended to be oblivious to things that would trigger a bad response from Matthew. Even though Alfred could be unable to read the mood at times, he was very in tune with Matthew after sharing a room with him for 13 years, and he just _knew_ what would cause a bad reaction from him.

It made him think of the razor again.

But back to the topic at hand; Francis' argument on the matter mainly consisted on saying Alfred was too crass to be around Matthew in his delicate state. As the argument worsened, Francis blatantly stated that it was Alfred's fault that Matthew had an invisibility complex to begin with. It was Matthew feeling inferior to Alfred that developed to him feeling invisible in general.

The dark side of Matthew had to admit that both arguments had merit.

Either way, it was at this point in the argument that he had jumped in and said he had to see both of them equally or neither of them. It was their choice. Though he had _strongly_ suggested that they stagger their visits so they wouldn't bump into the other. Matthew didn't think he could stand an argument like that again.

Getting bored with glaring evilly at the cupboard, particularly the keyhole, he got up and flopped onto his bed, his hands just itching to pick up his book to read.

But guess where that was?

All the things he could use to entertain himself with, like his book or the paper and pencil he had been given to draw on, were locked away in that _freaking_ cupboard. Did they really think he could kill himself with a book? What, give himself a paper cut of death?

Matthew snorted at the thought. He was more likely to die of boredom then that.

He didn't know how long he lay on his bed, facing the ceiling.

Whether it had been minutes or hours, Matthew blinked open eyes he hadn't realized that he had closed when his mind registered knocking at his door.

"Yes?" Matthew asked blearily, realizing he must have fallen asleep.

"Hiya, my names Bella and I heard you needed someone to open your cupboard!" The girl exclaimed exuberantly, stepping into the room with the green keychain that held all the cupboard keys in hand.

"Er, yes…" Matthew muttered, sliding off the bed and onto his feet and adjusting glasses that he had slept on. He took in the girl with shortish blond hair, green eyes, and an ever-present smile that reminded him strangely of a cat.

"I wanted to get my stuff for a shower. Um, are you my staff today? … And could you possibly tell me the time?" He asked, as polite as only a tried-and-true Canadian could be.

"Nope, I'm not your staff, he'll probably be here in the next half hour or so." She said as she opened his cupboard, stepping back when the _thing_ was opened. "And," she continued, pulling up her sleeve slightly to get a look at a dainty watch that was around her wrist, "It's 7:45am."

"Ah, Thank you." He murmured distractedly as he gathered up his stuff for a shower. Most of his belongings were arranged neatly on top of a dresser that was located in the cupboard, which Matthew hoped would be filled with clothes soon. They never told him when he would be allowed to wear real clothes again. He'd have to remember to ask the doctors when he saw them today.

After his stuff was gathered, he followed Bella wordlessly as she led him to the bathroom, where she stood sentinel beside the door.

"I might be gone when you come out, and your staff for the day will probably be taking my place, just for a heads up."

Matthew simply nodded and whispered a 'thank you' when he passed by Bella, and without another word he brushed his teeth and then took his shower.

**o.0.o**

_"Fly my pretties, fly!" _

When Matthew walked into the lounge later that day, after he had taken his shower, eaten his breakfast, and had read his book for an hour or so, it was to find two strangers sitting on the couch, watching The Wizard of Oz.

Matthew figured both were patients, since they were young, but only one was wearing the patented blue pyjamas of the unit. The other was wearing _actual_ clothes.

He stood there awkwardly for a minute or so, and chanced a look at his staff for the day. He was standing behind Matthew with a brooding, almost angry, look on his face. When he saw Matthew looking, he waved a hand for him to go forward, but didn't say a word.

The only words the man with longish-blond hair had yet to say to Matthew was when he had met him earlier that day, gifting him with a very military like greeting.

_Matthew walked out of the bathroom, hair still slightly damp, when he came face-to-face with a stranger. He was a man with choppily cut blond hair and stern green eyes. He was standing in front of the bathroom in a stance Matthew could only describe as militant, and when he saw Matthew he only relaxed a bit._

_"You are Matthew?" He asked, his voice heavy with an accent Matthew couldn't place. Something European... Swiss, maybe?  
_

_Matthew nodded._

_"I am Vash Zwingli, though you can call me 'Zwingli' or 'sir,' am I understood?"_

_Matthew could only nod again helplessly._

_"Speak up!"_

_"Yes sir." He said obediently, his blue eyes wide._

_"It's time for breakfast. It is in your room." Was the last thing he said, and had yet to say, to Matthew._

"Heh, look 'Liz, a newbie!" Matthew was startled out of his flashback by a rough sounding, slightly accented, voice, and when he looked up it was to take in a rather unusual looking fellow. Said 'Fellow' had silver-white hair that stuck up all over the place; pale skin, and most startling of all was his eyes. They were blood red… and that probably would've bothered Matthew if they weren't filled with a certain kind of mirth, like he knew the punch line to some sort of cosmic joke that no one else knew.

_Wow, an albino…_

"How old are you?"

Matthew was once again startled from his thoughts by the accented voice of the second person in the room, who was the girl Matthew noted wore 'real' clothes. She had straight, long brown hair, and her green eyes were friendly.

"Sixteen…?" He replied confusedly, not knowing if it was common practice here to give your age before your name. "I'll be seventeen in two weeks though. "

"Cool," She said before turning back to the movie. The boy, who was still turned towards Matthew, waved a hand for him to come over, and when Matthew did so he scooted a little bit to the side so there was room for him between himself and the girl.

"Er," he started nervously, sitting between the two new people, "How old are you two?"

"I'm seventeen and she's eighteen." The boy replied for both of them, before turning back to the movie.

"… my name's Matthew, by the way." Matthew added, so quietly that he figured they wouldn't hear him.

But, apparently the albino had super-sonic hearing.

"The awesome me is named Gilbert!" the albino, Gilbert, said loudly, reaching over and grabbing Matthew's hand to shake it so hard he was half certain it would fall off. "And this is Elizaveta, though you can call her Liz. Now stop yappin' and watch the movie, it's the best part!" He instructed, turning once again to the TV screen.

Matthew chanced a glance towards Elizaveta and noted she was staring at Gilbert with an eyebrow raised, and Matthew knew she hadn't heard his initial introduction. She was probably wondering why the hell Gilbert had spouted all that out. Matthew turned away when 'Liz noticed he was looking at her, but not before she gave him a small smile and a shrug, as if to say 'he's always like that,' before she to turned back to the movie.

When Matthew finally started to watch, he noted it actually _was _the best part: he watched in wry amusement as the Wicked Witch of the West melted. It might be mean for him to like this part the best, but when he was a kid the Wicked Witch had scared him to no end. This part was the only thing that would coax him from hiding behind his hands, knowing that the 'very bad lady' was gone from the movie.

The movie passed by uneventfully, with the three people watching in oddly companionable silence. Matthew was pleased to admit he didn't feel any unease around these new people. Not yet at least.

**o.0.o**

When the movie ended, the three people on the couch didn't quite know what to do next.

Matthew didn't feel like going back to his room, and he had to admit he was quite curious about these new people.

They had an hour to kill before lunch, and after the prospect of watching some normal TV was voted against, they migrated one-by-one to the table. Matthew was seated on one-side while Gilbert and Liz were on the other, and he had the sneaking suspicion that he was about to be interviewed. Trying to bypass potential awkwardness, Matthew decided to do something he doesn't normally do and ask a question first.

"So... they let you watch movies during the day?" Matthew asked softly, feeling awkward.

"Only on the weekend. On weekdays we get outpatients coming in here for schooling, working in the 'classroom' next door. " Elizaveta answered easily.

This gave Matthew a pause, "It's the weekend!?"

"Yep, Saturday. How long have you been here?"

"This is my second full day."

"And you've already gotten Zwingli!?" Gilbert exclaimed exasperatedly, his eyes snapping towards the head of the table where said person was absorbed in a crossword puzzle.

"Yes…?"

"They never give him the newbs!" Gilbert exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air and smacking his face on the table.

"…Why?" Matthew asked, thinking he probably would regret the answer.

"Usually the newbs are the hard ones to handle, and Zwingli isn't good with those guys. He flips out easily, traumatizes them, telling them he'll go home and come back with his gun. I think he actually _did_ bring a gun to work once, but that's all hush-hush, swept under the rug."

Matthew, turning shocked eyes to his staff, saw that Zwingli was blatantly ignoring them at this point, though he could've sworn his cheeks were more red then normal.

"Anyways," Liz continued, "They always assign him the well-behaved kids… usually the ones who've been worn down by being here for a week or two. Nice and medicated and whatever." Elizaveta concluded, patting Gilbert on the head in a consoling, if not slightly demeaning, manner.

Gilbert, who seemed to have recovered from his exasperation by the end of Liz's speech, looked at Matthew, radiating smugness. "_I've _never gotten Zwingli and I've been here for two weeks. Liz only got him as a staff on her third week here, and then she never got him again 'cus she was pushed to level three!"

Liz glared at Gilbert, seeming to have not liked the fact that he had revealed how long she's been there. Matthew, on the other hand, was wondering about the 'level three' bit and if they were allowed to play video games here.

Elizaveta sighed, noting Matthews' confusion,

"They have a level-system here." She explained patiently, before Matthew could ask. "You're probably on level one, where they watch you all the time, even when you sleep. Patients have to sleep through the whole night to go on level two. The only difference between levels two and one is the fact that you don't need to be watched at night, and your allowed to walk around the hospital. Level three is where you don't need a constant staff and you get to wear your own clothes. You also get passes to go outside then as well, because you're usually cooped indoors before that." Gilbert's look had become stormy, as if that one sentence ruined his day.

"They don't even let you out for a smoke. I hate that this is a children's hospital! There's no smoking anywhere near the building and we're limited to a PG movie rating during the day, PG-13 at night. Fucking sucks. Though the not smoking sucks more…" He ranted, and Matthew noticed offhandedly that Gilbert's fingers twitched at the mention of smoking.

"They wouldn't let you smoke anyways, Gil, with all that stuff they spout about keeping bad substances out of your body. We can't even have coffee, or chocolate! And then they pump you full of meds, like that's not a bad-"

"Matthew?"

Matthew turned towards the person who had called his name and he found himself looking at familiar face. It was Dr. Edelstein, the somewhat strange man who had chatted with him in emergency.

This person was 'somewhat strange' because he would fill silences, whether awkward or not, with hummed snatches of one classical piece or another. He would also occasionally quiz Matthew on what song he'd just been humming, which made Matthew incredibly nervous.

Two very different people flanked him.

One was a lady who had huge, well… for lack of a better term… she had _huge_ 'tracks of land'. Matthew was quite at awe at the size of them, which was surprising for his usual interest in those things were lacking at best. Afterwards, Matthew was quite ashamed of himself for taking in the women's chest-size before the rest of her person (though it was hard not to!). He would've taken stock of a very friendly looking woman, who had blue eyes and hair that was silver-blond in colour.

On the other side of Dr. Edelstein, however, there was an Asian man with a youthful looking face, unusual amber coloured eyes and long, pitch-black hair tied in a ponytail. When he saw Matthew looking at him, he gave a small smile.

"Er, yes?" Matthew replied finally, turning back towards Dr. Edelstein and hoping that he hadn't seen him ogling his colleagues' chest. By the sharp though reserved look in his blue eyes, he had seen it, yes, but was quite use to it.

"It is time for you to meet with us. We'll go back to your room." Dr. Edelstein said in a strict, no-nonsense tone before striding off, his two colleagues following.

Matthew could only follow behind, feeling a bit like a sheep, and he only glanced back to see Liz waving and Gilbert giving him a sardonic-looking thumbs up. When he turned back around he saw that Zwingli had fallen in-step beside him, and Matthew wondered when he had gotten up.

When they got back to his room chairs for the three medical staff had been pulled up. Matthew wasn't surprised at all that Zwingli seemed to prefer standing to sitting in this sort of situation, and the medical staff seemed to know it as well. Matthew, on the other hand, bypassed the chair at his desk and went to his bed to sit. He felt the most comfortable there, and after 2 nights he quite liked the height the bed had.

"Mr. Williams," Dr. Edelstein started once he was seated… Matthew was wondering what had happened to being called 'Matthew,' "We have met, but you have not met my colleagues. To my left Is Katyusha Braginski,"

"But you can call me Kat!" the lady, Katyusha, cut in cheerfully, voice heavy with a Slavic-sounding accent.

"Yes, well, she's the head social worker on unit." Dr. Edelstein continued, "To my right is Yao Wang, he's our Therapist on unit."

"Um," Matthew piped up quietly, a question on the tip of his tongue.

"Yes Mr. Williams, if you have a question ask it. And speak up for goodness shakes!"

Matthew, cheeks tinted red, attempted to 'speak up' to the best of his ability, "What's the difference between what you are and what Mr. Wang is? You didn't introduce him as 'Dr.'"

"That's because I'm not," Yao cut in, "And please don't call me Mr. Wang… it makes me feel old." Matthew was surprised to note that out of all the staff he had met, Wang had only the barest hint of an accent. It seemed like everyone on unit was a relatively recent immigrant, and though he wasn't complaining one bit, he had been expecting it to be a trend.

"Therapists and psychologists don't need a medical degree… only psychiatrists (which is what Dr. Edelstein is) need one." Yao concluded, cutting into Matthews's thoughts.

"Oh." Was all Matthew said, deciding not to ask his other questions right at the moment.

"Well, if that's all out of the way…" Dr. Edelstein continued, "How have you been finding the unit, Matthew?"

"Alright, I guess. The staff I've had so far are nice… and the patients seem nice too." Matthew couldn't help but notice that at the mention of the other patients, Dr. Edelstein's face seemed to contort, like he had just tasted something horrible.

"Hm… that's good. You seem better-adjusted then most new patients. Sometimes they have problems with the unit in general, the food, or just being away from home. I usually get an earful on the first visit, even from the quiet ones. As for the other patients…" he took a long breath, as if to steady himself, "Elizaveta is fine, but you should distance yourself from Gilbert. He's going to be here for a _long _time if he doesn't get his act together."

"Oh." Was all Matthew said, eyes wide. 'Oh,' always seemed to be his back-up word when he really didn't know what to say.

The rest of the meeting went by seamlessly, with Dr. Edelstein allowing his colleagues to chip in with their two cents.

Matthew was bumped to 'level 2,' for his staff last night had informed them that he had indeed slept through the night, which Matthew confirmed. When they got to the topic of Matthew feeling suicidal, they told Matthew that yes, they would like to put him on some medication just like Antonio had predicted. They told him he'd be fully informed on what medication it was and the possible side effects. They even said that it was Matthews' decision whether he wanted to change medications or if he wanted off them, but they had _strongly_ 'insisted' that Matthew try the meds out for a trial period at the very least.

"The order should come up tonight, we'll make sure your night staff is a nurse so they can administer the medication and explain everything. You can go back to the lounge now." Dr. Edelstein concluded.

Matthew just nodded, feeling drained as he walked out of his room, Zwingli at his side. It was funny how the quiet form of his staff comforted him, and even though he knew he would probably be assigned a new staff tomorrow, he hoped he would be given Zwingli again soon.

When he walked back to the lounge the lunch was up and the other two patients were munching contentedly.

"Wow, they kept ya in there for a while, kid." Gilbert commented, words sounding muffled because his mouth was full.

Matthew just shrugged, settling down to eat. When Matthew looked up again he found Gilbert looking at him with eyes narrowed dangerously. Matthew gulped, not quite realizing what he did to gain this reaction.

"Did that bastard Edelstein tell you to stay away from me or something?" He said, voice unusually quiet.

"Yes… but I just met you, so I don't know what to make of it." Matthew blurted out.

This made Gilbert smile a bit, "Well, you seem like a nice kid. It'll be a pity if he has you turned against me before we've had a chance to get to know each other… the question is though, are you going to listen to him?"

Matthew went silent for a bit, and he realized that the answer was quite clear.

"No. I'm not." At this Gilbert gave a shout of triumph and pulled Matthew into a somewhat awkward (very awkward on Matthews part) impromptu hug from across the table, their shirts just missing being covered in food by an inch. Matthew figured Gilbert had been through this before, and that Matthew was probably one of the few people who decided to give Gilbert a chance.

They both failed to realize the rather wide smile on Elizaveta's face. A scheming look overtook it as she looked from Gilbert to Matthew, who were awkwardly eating there food again, not looking at the other, giving a nod as she came to a conclusion in her head. Taking out a notebook seemingly from nowhere, she jotted down a few words before the notebook disappeared again, and as if nothing happened, she calmly went back to her food.

**o.0.o**

"The Hero has arrived!"

Matthew, who proved to be the type to startle easily, didn't even look up from his book when the shout was heard from the entrance of his room. He didn't need to look up to know it was Alfred, his half brother, in all his glory.

"Hi Al," He said instead, calmly flipping the page. He didn't even look up when the bed bounced jarringly as his brother sat on it.

"Mattieeeee," whined his half-brother, making Matthew grin slightly, hiding it behind his book, "You didn't acknowledge my hero entrance properly!"

"I said hi."

"But that was a _hero _entrance! You should've said more then just hi! You should've dropped the book, and said something like, 'Oh Al, I missed you so much! I'm so glad you're here! You have saved me from boredom!' C'mon Mattie- You're ignoring me, aren't you." It wasn't a question.

Matthew didn't even bother to respond.

Even though he had stopped reading by this point, Matthew still gave an annoyed shout when the book was snatched from his hands, and he found himself face-to-face with the grinning form of his brother.

Even though they were only half brothers, they were considered by most to look very similar, and they got mistaken for twins more often then not. They both hated hearing this.

While they both had similar face shapes and wore glasses, there were many differences as well.

Alfred had half-an-inch on Matthew, which seemed more because of Matthew's tendency to hunch. Also, while they both had blue eyes, Matthews were a deeper shade that almost appeared purple in some lights. Also, while they were both technically blondes, their hair was totally different, in Matthews opinion at least. Alfred's was short and messy, with a cowlick sticking up near the front that Alfred had named Nantucket, for the place his Mom was born. Matthew's hair was silky and longer, which was more the colour of honey then anything, while Alfred's hair was more wheat coloured.

"At least save my spot, Al!" Matthew said, a whine creeping into his voice when he brought himself back from the musings about his brother.

"To bad, it's already closed." Alfred responded, placing the book at the foot of the bed, skillfully dodging the pillow that was thrown at his head. He actually _did_ save his brothers spot for him, but he wouldn't tell Matthew that. When he turned back to him though his face turned serious, the small smile slipping from it.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's actually been _quiet _in the house without you there. Francis hasn't popped over since that fight, and we both can't get a hold of Dad, so it's just me in the house. And then there's no one else in the room…" Before Alfred could finish his sentence, he found himself pulled into a hug.

"I _have_ missed you Alfred!" Matthew said sincerely as he let go of his half-brother and was glad to see a smile back on his face. "I'm about to have dinner soon though. Have you eaten?" This made a shit-eating grin cross Alfred's face as he pulled forth a sandwich bag from subway.

"I heard you eat around this time, so I got myself something from the lobby! Eating alone sucks anyways."

"Thanks Al!" Matthew said happily, looking towards his staff that had replaced Zwingli. It was Bella whom Matthew had met in the morning. She was only here until 7:30pm, but they put her in since Matthews' staff for the night wasn't coming in until then.

"Can I eat in my room?" He asked her hopefully.

"Sure Matthew! Your dinner will be in the lounge, can you come with me to get it?"

"Sure." Matthew replied, getting off his bed and following Bella to the next door over. It was handy having his room right next to the lounge. Though, Matthew considered later on, maybe not so much.

When he got there he saw a new man, probably Gilberts staff, sitting on the couch watching TV. Matthew wondered where the dreadlocked man had been before.

"Here for dinner?" Gilbert asked simply, looking up from the food container he was opening.

"No, my brothers here. I'm going to eat with him."

"Was that 'The Hero' I heard?" Gilbert asked, a teasing tone in his voice.

Matthew had the grace to blush. "He likes to make an entrance…"

"Oh he _sure _did, and we all heard it. With all the soundproofing they have here, that's… impressive." Gilbert concluded, and Matthew knew 'impressive' wasn't the word he wanted to use.

"Well," Gilbert continued, "You won't have an awesome dinner, because I'm not there, but don't kill yourself from boredom."

"Alright." Matthew murmured happily, getting his tray and following Bella out again, totally missing Elizaveta's annoyed glare.

"Back," Matthew announced as he walked into the room, balancing his tray. He found his brother, Alfred, with his dinner already set up, practically sitting on top of Matthew's pillow near the windowsill where his pop was.

"If you get stuff on my bed, I'll kill you." Matthew warned cheerfully, pulling the chair from the desk and pushing it with his feet towards Alfred, where he sat with the tray on his lap.

"Aw, you wouldn't kill your own brother, Mattie?" Alfred asked, giving Matthew his best doe eyes, which made Matthew roll his.

"Half-brother, Alfred," Matthew coolly corrected, making Alfred pout. "Alright, maybe not kill, but maim…" Matthew conceded, a false thoughtful look on his face, and he grinned when Alfred chuckled with a muttered, 'I guess I can live with that.' Even after only being away from the other for two days, it was surprising how much they missed the others company.

Usually Matthew had quite enough of Alfred's company.

The only time they weren't together was during the 2 out of 4 classes they didn't have with the other (they even had the same lunch!) during school and when Alfred worked. Alfred usually dragged Matthew out when he was hanging with his friends, which was something that Matthew was both thankful for and annoyed by. Yes, he didn't have many of his own friends, and it got him out of the house, but these were the times when Matthew felt the most invisible. Alfred's so called 'friends' barely acknowledged his presence.

They ate in relative silence, Matthew occasionally talking about his day between bites, and Alfred ranting about how there was no McDonalds in the hospital food court.

During the conversation Matthew carefully left out the bit about medication though.

"We could watch a movie in the lounge if you want… well, only if the other guys are gone. Family can't be in the lounge with other inpatients." Matthew said, after they were both done eating and he had cleared his tray away.

"You can get a roll-in TV that has a DVD player and VCR." Bella piped up from where she was seated in the doorway.

"Seriously?" Matthew asked hopefully,

"Yep. The benefits of being in a children's hospital I guess."

Alfred had been quiet this whole time, an oddly thoughtful look on his face, "I guess Frenchie isn't visiting today then?"

"No, he's working late at the restaurant and couldn't come today. He'll visit tomorrow morning though. Why?"

"I thought I might have to eat and run if Francis had scheduled a visit and all…" Alfred muttered, sounding sullen.

_Not this again… why don't they just make up on there own time so they can visit me at together? They even had to get special permission to see me beyond visiting hours so they had more time… _Matthew thought in exasperation.

He said as much to Alfred, which only made him shrug, looking slightly guilty as he changed the subject, asking about getting the movie.

Bella nodded and got up, asking Matthew to come with her. They walked down the hallway that held most of the patient's rooms as well as the lounge, and into the reception area at the centre of the unit that also housed the bathrooms. A little ways down the hallway on the opposite side of the reception area they walked into a room on the right that was obviously another lounge.

This lounge was roomier though, as well as better furnished, and had large windows with a great view of the city and the walls were brightly coloured. Matthew felt a spike of envy, but pushed it down when he saw the state of the kids there. Some of them were _actually _kids, younger then 12 at the very least (12 was the youngest age you could be for Matthew's program). Most of them were very thin, and Matthew figured this was the lounge for the kids with eating disorders. He had heard they shared the unit with the so-called 'crisis' patients, which was what Elizaveta, Gilbert and himself were.

Bella seemed to know her way around the lounge; Matthew figured she mainly worked with the kids in this program. She walked towards the wall to the right hand side and grabbed one of the three rollaway TV's that were there, saying a friendly 'hello' to some of the kids she obviously knew.

"Hey you! Are you, like, new?" Called a voice from behind Matthew, and when he looked he came face to face with a person that Matthew wasn't quite sure was a boy or a girl at first. He (or she) had blonde hair past his chin, a haughty look in his green eyes, and he was obviously wearing girls' clothes.

"Um, I'm in the other program." Matthew said shyly.

"Yeah… I can tell." The boy (Matthew was certain now), gave a disdainful look to what Matthew was wearing, making Matthew feel rather embarrassed and he shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortable.

"But that wasn't the question, silly! I can totally tell you're new, and I haven't, like, seen you around," The boy continued before Matthew had time to speak.

"Yeah, I'm new… why?" Matthew felt himself blush more when his voice came out more like a squeak then anything.

"Aw, your so totally cute! I was just checking, go and watch your movie or whatever, Bell-bell's waiting!"

And so Matthew did, walking back to his room without even getting the boys name, slightly uneasy from the scheming look in his eyes.


	4. Medication, Insomnia and Cats, Oh my!

**A/N: Hiya~! Here's the next part of chapter 3! **

**Again, I want to thank all my lovely readers, which includes all the people who watched/fav my story so far! Also I want to give a huge thankyou to Memoranda for her lovely review! On that topic, I would love to hear back from the people who read this story! Whether you like it, whether you think something should be changed, ideas you might have for the story, etc. It would mean a great deal to me if I heard what you guys think :D.  
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**Warnings:  
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**This chapter probably has content that some people won't be comfortable with. There is talk of suicidal attempt, and talk of medication as well. Speaking of which, the medication I talk about is real, and is used for quite a number of disorders. This is probably the heaviest chapter... or at least there won't be a chapter this heavy for quite some time.  
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**The next chapter will be a lot happier :)  
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**Disclaimer: I own nothing put the plot.  
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**o.0.o**

The only movie that was in stock that the brothers could agree on ended up being Lilo and Stitch.

It always made Matthew laugh at the fact that his brother's second favourite genre, if it could be called that, was anything Disney (horror being his favourite, even though it frightened him), so he didn't have a problem with the majority of the hospital's selection. It was Matthew who was the picky one, because he really couldn't stand most of the singing in Disney movies, which narrowed down their choices quite a bit.

Either way, when the movie was finished it was time for Alfred to go, and Matthew found himself feeling anxious to meet his night staff, for it meant getting medication.

The first thing that alerted Matthew to his staff was a meow, which startled him so much he almost fell from his bed. When he looked down he found himself face-to-face with a cat. Smiling, Matthew reached down and picked up the obviously friendly kitten. He placed it on his lap and petted it as he settled back on his bed, and he turned thoughtful eyes onto the cat, "I don't know how you got in here, but our you my staff?" He murmured, reminiscing on that 'Are You My Mother?' story read to him as a child.

"No… that would be me. The cat's… they follow me… though I don't think you mind." The voice was so slow and sleepy sounding that Matthew felt it was probably impossible to feel startled by its (not so) sudden appearance. Case in point, the easily startled Matthew calmly looked over to his doorway where a man was standing, 3 or 4 more cats' surrounding him. He had spacey green eyes and brown hair, with a weird strand sticking up near the back.

Matthew politely waited for this stranger to find a seat before he asked his questions,

"Are the cat's allowed in here?"

"Not technically… it's why they have me work the night shift. There was no way around it… the cats find their way to me… my name is Heracles, by the way. I should have introduced myself… that was rude of me."

"It's alright." Matthew murmured distractedly, putting two and two together when the man told him his name.

_Greek. It was hard to place his accent because he speaks so slowly, but he's definitely Greek. _

Heracles nodded slowly, and a cat jumped on his lap that he petted. He gave Matthew a long look, but didn't speak for a while, opting to pet the furry form of the cat instead. The sound of two cats purring filled the room before he started speaking.

"You know why I'm here." He murmured, his voice almost as soft as Matthews.

"Yes," Matthew confirmed, even though he knew the man didn't state it as a question. "About the medication."

Heracles nodded in the same slow way before starting to speak again, "Firstly… the doctors came to a conclusion. That the suicidal feelings… the mild depression… all pens from the same… source—Anxiety. Social anxiety… in particular. It became so bad that… you felt invisible to your peers. Does that seem about right?" Heracles asked, face showing a vague sort of curiosity.

Matthew could only nod. They had hit it right on… he himself had been thinking along the same lines.

Heracles made a soft humming sound, and Matthew figured it was his 'I thought so' noise. The attention that had been locked on Matthew for the first few minutes seemed to slip, and he appeared to be gazing up at the fire alarm on the ceiling as he continued talking,

"Because of this… the medication they thought best suited for you… is called Paxil… or Peroxetine. Paxil is the brand name… like Kleenex is for facile tissues. It should help the anxiety. But it can induce… insomnia… in some. It might be best… to wait until morning to try you on it."

At this Matthew shook his head, feeling suddenly stubborn— a mood that was unusual to the easy-going Matthew. "I would much rather try it now. My cousin is visiting tomorrow morning… I don't want to have the thought of trying this medication hanging over my head like it was today." He said, in a voice louder than it was normally, which actually wasn't that loud in hindsight. He continued when a thought occurred to him, "Francis knows about this medication, right?"

"The French man?" Heracles asked. When Matthew gave a nod in confirmation he continued, "Yes… I was on the phone with him just now… that is why I am late. The doctors already asked his… permission… earlier today, for he is your guardian while your Dad is away. I had to explain about… Paxil though. To see if he was O.K… with the choice."

"I want to get it over it. It can only induce insomnia in _some_, right? Not all? Getting it over with is a possibility?" Matthew asked, hope leaking into his voice.

"Yes. It is a… possibility. I am on a long shift tonight… so I can check in on you… every-so-often. You… should listen to the side effects fist. Before making a final decision."

At this Matthew felt himself deflate, the stubbornness leaking out of him like air from a balloon with a hole in it. "Yes, I'll hear them…" Matthew murmured, quiet as ever once again, head down, hiding behind his longish blonde hair.

Part of him just didn't _want_ to hear the side effects. It was bad enough that he was being put on a medication that he didn't have much choice in. Now he had to hear all the bad things about it! All he wanted was to get it over with, and face the side effects _if_ and when they came. The preamble was killing him.

When he chanced a glance upwards he found sympathy in Heracles eyes, which actually surprised Matthew. The slow-talking Greek man seemed as stoic to him as Zwingli, though in a spacier, more casual, sort of way. Heracles lacked the grumpy, serious cloud that seemed to shroud Zwingli.

He didn't have any words of comfort for Matthew though, instead plowing right into the list of side effects, actually talking fast (normal speed for most) for once.

"The most common side-effects for Paxil include; constipation; diarrhea; dizziness; dry mouth; headache; increased sweating; trouble urinating; tiredness; trouble sleeping; and weakness."

Matthew let out a snort at this, attempting to mask his worry, "Diarrhea _and_ constipation, tiredness _and_ trouble sleeping? That all seems very… contradictory." He muttered sullenly, letting out some of his snarky side he usually reserved for Alfred, or on occasion his cousin and rarely his Dad. Sullenness and worry turning to anger, he glared at the floor. He would've glared at is lap, which was his habit, but it seemed rude to glare at the cat that had taken up residency there. He looked up though when he heard a soft chuckle. There was a small half-smile on Heracles face, and by the way his eyes lit up it didn't seem as out of place as Matthew would've first thought. He probably would've fainted if Zwingli managed to crack a smile like that.

"Other side effects are related to sexual desire… the lack of, actually. Problems during… and not enough want to start." Heracles stated solemly, looking suddenly forlorn, like this was the worst side effect of them all.

Matthew felt himself blush, and cursed himself out internally for his tendency to do so.

"That… that shouldn't be an issue with me here though." Matthew conceded, giving a small, bemused smile to Heracles, as he finally managed to fight down his blush.

Heracles nodded in his slow way once again, returning Matthews smile, though less bemused.

_Those side effects… they wouldn't be permanent, right? _

Slight doubt and worry niggling at him from that thought, he decided he'd better ask, or for ever have that worry hanging over him, "Those side effects though, they would go away eventually, right? Like if I get any of them, they will only stay until my bodies adjusted?"

"Yes. They would go away… in not too long. We'll help you with… the side effects as they come. But do you still want to try it tonight? It might be… uncomfortable. If you are kept up… and have some of those side effects…"

Relief and uncertainty whirling together in his mind, Matthew found himself drifting into his thoughts and back to his worst period, which was the time right before he came to the hospital.

His Dad had been worried about him, and had let him stay home from school on what he called a 'mental health leave.' He had noticed that every time Matthew came back from school he would grow steadily worse, though Matthew, the ever-diligent student had protested… at first.

His Dad had to leave on a business trip though.

He had made sure that Francis was in the house to keep an eye on Matthew, but ended up missing the ever-downward spiral. Matthew wouldn't look anyone in the eye besides family, and even that was becoming increasingly rare. Really he had just stared at the floor all the time, forlorn, listless.

He had always had an 'invisibility complex,' as his Psychologist called it, but he'd never felt as invisible as he did in that week. _What was the point? _Became the ever present thought in his head.

Everything came to a climax the day before he was brought to emergency.

He had finally resolved that he would do it. He would rid the world of a person that he had convinced himself they couldn't even see. The final decision had been made in the morning after a fitful night of sleep, and after Alfred was off at school and Francis at work he spent quite a few hours lying on his bed, thinking on the 'how to.' The light bulb came in the form of the medicine cabinet, and in specific what he found in there.

Sleeping pills, and strong ones too. Ones that his Dad had used when he had had a bout of insomnia, and ones he had never bothered to throw out.

Matthew had only managed to down one pill though when his Brother came home, having gotten out of school early. Matthew hadn't known he had gotten home, like Alfred hadn't known his half brother was in the bathroom when he had walked in there.

They had just stared at each other for a few long moments, and Matthew, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights, had hoped that Alfred wouldn't notice the incriminating pill bottle clasped in his hand. He had known he was doomed though when Alfred's eyes had locked on to the pill bottle, and before he knew it, it was snatched from his hands.

'Mattie! Just… please… please don't tell me you weren't about to do what I _think_ you were about to do.' Alfred had said, dread and hope mixing together, which made a queer combination in both his eyes and voice when he looked back up from reading the label.

Matthew hadn't been able to lie to his brother. He hadn't been able to say anything at all.

He just looked at Alfred with sad eyes, and he had watched as Alfred's face went from sad to angry… though there was more betrayal on it then anything. He had watched as Alfred made a valiant attempt at pushing down his anger, which was something that wasn't easy for him, and when he had spoken again there was only a hint of those feelings in his voice.

'How many have you taken?' He had asked simply, worry the most prominent in his voice.

Matthew had felt as if his mouth was glued shut, and could only manage to put up one finger.

Alfred had almost sagged with relief, but then the anger was back full force, and he had just opened his mouth, probably to give his brother a piece of his mind, when Matthew let out a huge yawn.

Without another word, Alfred had gone to Matthew, who by this point had been swaying from tiredness. He had helped him into their bedroom and then into his bed.

Matthew had managed to sleep through the rest of the afternoon and into the night. When he had awakened, Alfred had informed Matthew that he had a therapy appointment this morning, and that he was going as well.

And, as they say, the rest is history.

Matthew wasn't quite sure how long he'd been skipping down memory lane, but he was brought back to the land of the living by a shake of his shoulder.

"Yes?" Matthew said, giving himself a shake like a dog would to shake off water.

"Matthew? Are you alright…? You were… spaced out there." Said Heracles, stepping away from Matthew and going back to his seat.

_Your one to talk… _Matthew thought snidely, before realizing he hasn't answer Heracles question yet.

"I'm sorry for not answering your question for so long! Er… how long was I out for?"

"I'm actually… not quite sure. I had been waiting… for a response… and then I had dozed off. When I woke up… you were still spaced out… so I decided to, in a sense, wake you."

Matthew wasn't surprised at all that Heracles had fallen asleep while waiting.

"What is your answer, though?" The Greek man continued.

Matthew looked at his lap, in particular the cat who had fallen asleep on his lap, then back up to Heracles.

"I'll take the meds tonight." He stated simply. Thinking back had made him realize how much he didn't want to go back to the way things were. He wanted to change things for the better, and soon.

And so later that night Matthew was given a dose 12.5mg, which was only a dose to get him started… it'll increase over time, Heracles had said. He lay in bed, and waited for sleep to come.

And he waited.

And waited.

And after much longer then it would normally take him to fall asleep, he realized something.

He wasn't tired, and he just couldn't sleep.

_Oh crap. _


	5. During a sleepless night

**Chapter 4 is here! And I'm really glad I could get it up exactly a week after the last one. Hopefully I could do the same with chapter 5, but I don't know. School started and I find myself a bit busier then usual. **

**But anyways! Thankyou for spiritualnekohime4, Karachan Furrimen and memoranda for reviewing last chapter! I love you all! I'm almost positive I replied back to each of your reviews. Hopefully I'll see you guys review again :). Remember, I love hearing what people think of this story! Also, than kyou to everybody who fav'ed and followed, you are all awesome.  
**

**This chapters a bit shorter then normal, but next chapter will be longer!  
**

**Thanks again to Someone's Black Kettle for editing. Speaking of which, you should read her new GerIta story, World at War, 1945!**

**o.0.o**

3am.

The clock in the reception area said it was 3 _freakin'_ A.M!

Matthew had made up the excuse of needing to use the bathroom so he could steal a glance at the clock in reception, and he didn't like what he saw.

Matthew had only ever stayed up this late when Alfred managed to talk him into a video game playing/movie-watching marathon, which Alfred almost never succeed in doing. Then again, there were also those times when they were little where the brothers tried to stay up the whole night. Matthew knew Alfred stayed up this late on a regular basis, but Matthew valued his sleep, thank you very much.

And now some dumb medication was keeping him up.

As promised, Heracles had made periodic visits to Matthew's room. He would poke his head in, give a wide yawn then he would slowly meander down the hallway once again, a stream of cats following behind him. Matthew made sure he appeared fast asleep during these visits though.

He always knew it was time to jump in bed when he heard Heracles yawn on his way to the room, or if one of his cat entourage happened to meow.

You see, if Matthew was anyone else, he probably would've swallowed his pride and told Heracles he couldn't sleep, and he might have had something more entertaining to do then pace his room.

But Matthew just wasn't everyone else.

Maybe it was from living with the prideful Alfred for so long, but Matthew deeply valued what little pride he had. He just couldn't bring himself to wound that pride and tell Heracles he was right. Not after he had practically begged him to let him take the meds tonight at least... Not practically, he _had_ begged him, and now he was facing the consequences.

The hospital at night was so different then it was during the day, though.

For one, there was the lady at reception, who had introduced herself tonight to Matthew as Natalia.

When he had walked down to reception she had paused in her conversation with Heracles, who was sitting behind the desk with her, to give Matthew a very friendly hello. It had been a total personality switch from yesterday morning, where she had been cold and distant. She had only listened politely when Matthew had struck up a conversation with her, and her blue eyes had been icy.

Now, Natalia was totally different.

As Matthew walked out of the bathroom, Natalia herself started up a conversation with him. She made rapid hand gestures while she talked that made her long, silvery-blonde hair swish around, and her eyes had totally thawed out. After the short conversation was finished, Matthew gave Natalia and a more-so-then-usual sleepy looking Heracles a quiet 'goodnight,' and then he started back to his room. On the way, he came to the conclusion in his head that she just wasn't a day person. Or it had been the end of her shift.

When Matthew walked into his room he closed the door behind himself and looked forlornly at the space in front of him. Then he started his pacing once again.

From his door to the opposite wall: 10 paces.

From the right wall to the left wall (really, it was only to his bed on that wall): 5 paces.

Along that wall: 10 paces.

The boredom that comes with counting your steps: paceless.

Matthew let out a weak snort at his visa-card joke, and then with a small jump and a graceless flop he collapsed on his bed.

He stared unblinkingly at the drop ceiling for a few long moments, then, closing his eyes, he attempted for the 30th time to will himself to sleep.

"Can't sleep?"

The voice was so out of the blue and just so damn _close_ that Matthew gave a startled yelp and rolled right out of his bed.

With a groan, he rolled himself from his stomach to his back then looked up at the manically grinning face looming over him.

Everything but the albino's eyes and grin were more-or-less shrouded in darkness, which Matthew couldn't help but think of as creepy. It was especially creepy with how the light coming from the window illuminated his red eyes.

"Gilbert?" Matthew asked blearily, giving a very owlish blink as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"You O.K, kid? You look out of it." Gilbert asked flippantly, bending down to lend Matthew a hand.

"Well, Gil, for one I just fell out of my bed," Matthew muttered darkly, sending the aforementioned 'Gil' a sullen glare as he carefully sat down onto his bed.

"Oh, that." The albino said cheerfully as he gracelessly plopped himself onto the bed beside Matthew. "Heh, 'Gil,' I've never been called that before." Gilbert muttered to himself.

"Er, sorry… It just suits you more than 'Gilbert.' W-well I think so at least, I won't call you it again though!" Matthew stuttered. He knew Gilbert had said that more to himself then to Matthew, but he felt the need to comment on it anyways.

"Nah, I like it! Being called 'Gil' is almost as awesome as I am. And as you must have noticed that the awesome me is the most awesome thing in the world." Gilbert crowed obnoxiously, though Matthew was grateful that he wasn't as loud as he had been earlier today… technically yesterday. Matthew figured he just didn't want to wake people up, or he didn't want the staff to find out he was in another patient's room.

_Speaking of which..._

"Gilbert, why are you in my room?" Matthew asked bluntly, giving the albino beside him a no-nonsense stare, which for some reason only made Gilbert's grin come back full force.

"Aw! What happened to 'Gil'! I was just brainstorming an awesome nickname to call you!" He said, faking hurt, though he just couldn't manage to make his grin disappear.

Matthew blushed, quickly becoming flustered, his mouth dropping open in surprise. He never had a friend make a nickname for him before... except Alfred, but he was his (half) brother.

_Had Gilbert become a friend...? Already...?_

Giving an internal shake and snapping his mouth shut, he attempted to beat those musings away with a proverbial hockey stick. "Tha-That doesn't answer my question, _Gilbert_" he spluttered, surprise making way for exasperation.

This actually made Gilbert frown for a total of 10 seconds, and Matthew swore he heard the albino mutter something along the lines of 'Fine, the awesome me won't gift him with a (not so) equally awesome nickname.' But then the grin was back.

"I just wanted to grace you with my presence so you could bask in my awesomeness! You should be thankful. And the cat man's asleep anyways."

"...Shouldn't you be asleep?" Matthew murmured, his mind starting to whirl from all the 'awesomes'' spouted out by the boy beside him.

"Shouldn't you?" Said boy countered, manic grin morphing into a smug smirk.

"I asked you first." Was all Matthew could muster, turning to sullenly glaring out his window. He really hated the view out that window.

If you looked down all you could see is an alleyway 5 floors below, and if you looked straight out you were face-to-face with the side of an ugly brick building. If you looked up, you could _just_ make out a sliver of the sky above the aforementioned, stupidly tall, brick building.

"I haven't been able to sleep since they got me on these new meds. I've been getting like three hours each night if I'm lucky. Man, the doctors didn't even _know_ it was a fucking side affect, it's supposed to make people drowsy! They had ta do all this crazy research to figure out what was going on." Gilbert ranted, face becoming more and more stormy as he went on. "One in a thousand, kid. One in a _fucking_ thousand gets this side affect. So not awesome. " Gilbert continued, practically spitting out the words.

"You?" Gilbert asked, making a total mood switch as he went from pissed to practically radiating smugness.

"They just put me on a new medication. They told me it could cause insomnia but I ignored that." Matthew responded simply.

Gilbert snorted, "And so you spent your night pacing your room and faking sleep whenever the cat man comes by."

"...How do you know that?" Matthew asked sharply, giving Gilbert a suspicious glare despite his surprise.

"My rooms right opposite yours, kid." Gilbert deadpanned.

"It is!?" Matthew exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Yep!"

"...You were the one who burned the packet of paper." Matthew said out of the blue after a few moments of silence.

This made Gilbert laugh for a total of two minutes, holding his stomach from the force of his laughter and probably from the fact that he had to keep silent.

Gilbert's laugh came out more like a repetitive hissing sound then an actual laugh, and sounded more like 'kesesesesese,' as opposed to 'hahahaha.' It started grating on Matthews nerves after 50 seconds. After a full minute he first attempted smother Gilbert with his pillow (which didn't work out) then he tried to smother himself, via burying his face in the fluffiness and muttering darkly.

After the laughter finally subsided, Gilbert wiped a tear of mirth from his eyes with a muttered 'Good times, good times.'

"So, they eventually told you who did it, huh?" Gilbert asked offhandedly.

"No, I heard a laugh the other day (a totally different laugh though) and figured it was you after you said your rooms across from mine." Matthew replied.

"Heh. Well, I gotta go and try to get my three hours, or my day staff will have my ass." Gilbert said easily as he got up

"They know you can't sleep?" Matthew asked, bewildered.

"Yeah, they just accept it now. They're weaning me off the meds, but they gotta do it slowly."

"Ah," Matthew murmured nodding.

"_Bis Später_." Gilbert called with a wave, turning to leave,

"Wait," Matthew exclaimed, not wanting the albino to go just yet and leave him to his boredom.

"Yeah?" Gilbert asked, sounding slightly annoyed as he turned back to Matthew.

"Er, you're German?" was the only thing he could think to say. He was glad he had recognized what the albino had said as German, and it did help him place Gilbert's slight accent.

Matthew almost sagged in relief when the annoyance on Gilbert's face was replaced with a smile, "Prussian." He stated smugly, giving a grin. "But yeah, I am. You couldn't recognize the awesome accent?" Gilbert asked, smirking.

"Well you don't have much of an accent!" Matthew exclaimed defensively, which made Gilbert's expression change from slightly cutting to something more thoughtful.

"My Grandpa taught me and my brother English when we were little, so even though we only moved from Germany, like, three years ago, I guess I wouldn't have much of an accent. My little brother has more of an accent only because he refused to learn English at first as a kid. You might meet him sometime."

"Ah." Matthew said, giving a nod. "Well, goodnight, Gil." He continued, deciding he should let Gilbert get his sleep.

"_Gute Nacht_, kid." Gilbert replied with one last wide grin before turning and walking out the door.

**Translations:**

_Bis Später (German): _See you later.

_Gute Nacht (Garman): _Goodnight.


	6. An Interlude

**A/N: Hello again!**

**First off, I'd like to say that I'm really sorry for the delay! I really tried getting it out last Sunday, I really did! Schools been keeping me busy, and this chapter took quite some time to write. There won't be a delay longer then 2 weeks between chapters though, and hopefully I can get the next chapter out in just a week!**

**Secondly, I'd like to once again thank the awesome people who reviewed last chapter, spiritualnekohime4 and Karachan Furrimen!**

**So I actually wrote this during a bout of writers block (don't worry, it's gone now :3) where I just couldn't write the continuation of the main story line. So this is kind of an imbetween chapter, an Interlude really, dealing with a few things that happened before the story took place.**

**Warnings: Nothing really. Some swearing, hints at future spamano.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. **

**And I'd like to give a big thanks to Someone's Black Kettle for once again editing. Speaking of which, she has a new story out, World at War, 1945. It's a GerIta fic set during the world wars, and its really good!**

* * *

**The first meeting****: **

**Sometime in February 2 months before story**

Antonio was excited.

He was so excited that he didn't even care how early it was (even though it was already 8am) and he couldn't help but fidget as he nursed his second coffee of that morning. He was trying to wait patiently, he really was, but who could sit still when one was finally getting the responsibility they had been yearning for in their job!

Even if he hadn't been working as a nurse for too long, he happened to be the senior nurse in the unit, though he lacked responsibility. Antonio knew the reason for this though; his boss wasn't exactly fond of him. Yes, he was a good nurse, kind hearted, and he even got along really well with the kids and teens in the unit. But Antonio also happened to be relatively oblivious, too casual, and he did have the tendency to take _siestas _when he was supposed to be working.

B_ut none of that matters now_, Antonio told himself happily, _'cus life is looking up!_

Antonio had been told yesterday that he would be in charge of the supervision of a nursing student, and he'd get to meet him today. This was a great responsibility, because not only were you supervising them, but you had to pass on your knowledge and assess their progress as well. As their supervisor, you could be the reason why your student passed or failed, or if you gave a fabulous report, you could be the reason the student got hired into the hospital. Usually Antonio would've shunned away from that kind of power—he was really too nice for his own good, he didn't think he could fail a student even if they were horrible—but the time just seemed right.

6 years. It had been exactly 6 years yesterday since the 26-year-old started working as a nurse. Granted, he was still technically a student when he had first worked in a hospital—when he was doing his two-month placement— and it had been a hospital in Quebec, but that didn't matter. 6 just so happened to be Antonio's lucky number.

_It must be a good omen, _Antonio had thought as he stepped out of his bosses' office the other day after being told the news, still stunned beyond belief. _Six years and I'm finally moving up in this job! _

"Carriedo!" a sharp voice snapped, cutting through Antonio's excited thoughts.

Antonio frowned at the voice. _Why does this jerk always have to ruin my good moods?_

"Yes, Doctor Roderi-" Antonio replied, abnormally cold as he looked up to his boss, but froze mid-word when he saw who accompanied him. The kid standing beside Roderich with shoulders slouched was definitely a student.

My _student_, Antonio thought with an odd bout of possessiveness.

In general, the kid was very grouchy looking. His odd eyes, which were a colour somewhere between hazel and amber, were chalk full of insolence as he stared back at Antonio. He also had straight, shortish brown hair except for a weird strand that stuck up to the side near the front. Antonio had to resist the urge to reach over and tug it, because that wouldn't make a good impression on his new student at all. Instead, he stood up from the extra bed he had been sitting on and with a wide smile stuck out his hand for the student to shake.

"Hi! I'm Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, welcome to the Psych-ward for the Hetalian Hospital for Sick children~!"

The kid didn't shake Antonio's hand. He didn't move an inch, or even make a sound. His mouth had twitched when Antonio had mentioned the hospital, like he was stopping himself from commenting, but that was the only thing he did.

Roderich, in the meanwhile, was silently fuming. Antonio figured he had reserved himself to not interfere while student and supervisor interacted for the first time, but Antonio knew he really wanted to.

When a person realized their handshake wasn't going to be returned, most people would've put their hand down at this time, or at the very least stopped smiling. But Antonio wasn't most people. He was incredibly determined (to a fault) when he wanted to be.

As the seconds ticked by and awkwardness started to settle around the two people standing in the middle of the hallway, the kid finally gave a huff, probably not wanting to drown in the awkward silence.

"I'm Lovino Romano Vargas. Call me Romano though." He said, finally grabbing Antonio's hand and giving it brusque but firm shake. In Antonio's opinion, it had been too firm, and he had to resist the urge to shake his hand out after the kid, Lovino, let go of it.

"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to call you Lovino. It feels weird to call you by your middle name…" Antonio said, still smiling.

Roderich seemed to still be refraining himself from interfering, but judging by the constipated look on his face, Antonio figured it was getting very, very hard for him.

"Well I _do _mind. I don't like my first name. It's fine for me to give it as an introduction, or for the kids here to call me that, 'cus that's just being professional, but if I'm gonna be stuck with you, just call me Romano, O.K?" The kid said, a whining tone entering his voice.

Antonio really hated whining.

"Well, what about Lovi then? It's not your full name." Antonio said, really determined now to get his way, or at least part of it.

Lovino's eyes narrowed and he stared down Antonio, who stared right back, which commenced a totally silent battle of wills.

Roderich, who seemed to sense another awkward silence coming, finally decided it was best to intervene.

"Could we please discuss this an-"

"… I could live with that. But I still don't like it." Lovino said, totally bowling over whatever Roderich had been about to say.

Antonio grinned broadly at having won that battle, but before he could say anything else, Roderich started to talk again, obviously not liking being interrupted before.

"What I was _about_ to say is that we do not have much time for chit-chat at this moment. Today was for meeting purposes only. _Lovino _is officially starting tomorrow, and I need to discuss things with you Carriedo. Lovino, you are dismissed."

Both Lovino and Antonio rolled their eyes at this, but Lovino had the chance to walk away while Antonio had to grudgingly follow his so-called boss down the hallway and into his office.

_Well, now _I'm_ a boss. If I'm not such a stick in the mud like Roderich then maybe Lovi won't be so mean in the future! _Antonio thought with a newfound determination.

"You gave me a brat on purpose." Antonio stated simply as soon as the door was closed when they had walked into the office.

The softly said swear was left unheard by both people in the room, as well as the sound of quickly retreating footsteps.

If Antonio had meant what he had said as a question, which he hadn't, it would've been answered either way by the poorly concealed smirk on Roderich's face, and how his voice practically dripped with smugness as he spoke.

"Oh, you should be _honoured_ to have Lovino as your student. He is a Vargas, after all. As in Romulus Vargas' grandchild. You know, one of the _founders_ of this hospital." Antonio briefly felt his irritation melt away at this to be replaced by curiosity, but before he could ask one of the million questions buzzing through his brain, Roderich continued talking.

"Pity you couldn't have had his younger brother as a student. He's working in the hospital kitchens right now, under the supervision of Klaus Beilschmidt's grandson. Ludwig, I think his name is. They're both technically in the co-op program of their _highschool _though, you see. When Lovino wanted to do his nursing placement here, we, as in the hospital, had to let him in due to his relation to one of the hospital's founders. When he asked to be placed in this particular ward for whatever unfathomable reason, I had to consent. But what I can do is give him a supervisor that wouldn't complain. Oh, and you'll be stuck with him for quite some time…"

No matter how mad he was at the moment, Antonio could only glare daggers at the man before him and grind his teeth. Despite his qualms against the man, he was his boss first and foremost, the head honcho in the ward, and he had the power to fire him. There was only so much cussing he could get away with, and Roderich knew it to.

Looking back on things later, Antonio figured he probably should've questioned what Roderich meant by 'quite some time.'

* * *

Antonio was quickly getting to the end of his good cheer, and his previous determination to be nice to Lovino no matter what was waning fast. Very fast indeed.

The day, no, the _week,_ had been a long one, to say the least.

Lovino was probably the absolutely worst student in the _world_. He talked back whenever possible, he made rude comments, and he had developed a very _interesting_ nickname for Antonio after they had had lunch together the day before.

They had been in the food court, and Lovino had just come back to their table after buying himself some pizza from Pizza Pizza, commenting darkly on how it'd suck compared to anything he could make. Antonio had to bite back a comment on how he should've brought his own lunch then, or at the very least he should've bought something else, if he was just going to complain about it.

But Antonio really didn't want to get into another argument with Lovino. He was getting very, very tired of those. Instead, he just pulled out his own lunch, which was pretty much tomatoes galore, consisting of Gazpacho, tomato salad and a tomato.

Looking towards Lovino sitting across from him, Antonio could've even almost found the totally bemused look on his face cute. Almost.

"Ah… Tomatoes, much?" Lovino said, in his normal condescending voice.

Antonio narrowed his eyes. Lovino could insult him all he wanted, but there was no way in _infierno _that he was going to insult his favourite food.

"I like tomatoes." Antonio sad, abnormally cold.

The darker side of Antonio, which had been coming closer and closer to the surface of his personality ever since being in contact with Lovino, was very satisfied by the stunned look on Lovino's face. But the rest of Antonio just felt guilty.

"I was just saying there was a lot of tomatoes! Chiggi, I like tomatoes too, you tomato bastard!" Lovino huffed, finally finding his voice.

This actually made Antonio smile, really smile, for the first time that day. And he would've kept smiling if the 'unique' nickname hadn't have stuck. But it did.

"Oi, Tomato bastard, are you even listening to me?! I swear, you're too spacey!" Lovino said irritably, poking Antonio's shoulder repeatedly to get his attention.

Antonio let loose a muttered stream of angry Spanish at his thoughts being interrupted so rudely. He was seriously getting more and more irritable with every passing minute, and he wasn't hiding it anymore either.

"You know I can understand you… right?"

This actually made Antonio pause mid-word. _"¿Qué?_" he said, very eneloquently, before he finally managed to find his tongue again. "Ah, I thought you were Italian…?"

"_Mio dio_, you can be an idiot." Lovino muttered, rolling his eyes. "Of course I'm Italian! But where do you think the name Vargas came from? 'Cus it's not an Italian name, that's for sure. My _Nonno,_ who raised me,was half Spanish, and so he taught me and my _fratello _Spanish when we were little. I grew up in _Napoli_ also, knowing Spanish there doesn't hurt." Lovino concluded, and Antonio was pretty sure he had inserted those Italian words in his sentence on purpose.

_An eighth Spanish then. I wish it showed more though… _Antonio thought with an inward sigh.

Realizing Lovino was looking for acknowledgement that he had heard him, Antonio just gave a distracted nod before finally getting off the bed he was suppose to be changing the sheets of.

Managing to convince Lovino to get off the bed as well, he finally started doing the job he was suppose to be doing a half hour ago. Usually this kind of job was left for the cleaning lady who came by the unit daily, but on a slow day, like this one had been, Roderich liked giving cleaning jobs to Antonio.

Without a word, Lovino went to the other side of the bed and started helping out. Antonio thought his eyes were going to pop out due to how wide they got. Not once, in this entire week, had Lovino helped him willingly. When he did 'help,' he usually made a big mess, so Antonio had stopped asking him.

He was even tempted to give Lovino a second chance after this, but the good will towards the other was quickly flushed down the drain with the next thing Lovino said.

"You'd do a shit job without me, Tomato bastard."

It might've seemed like such a small thing compared to the other insults Lovino had thrown at him, but it was the last straw for Antonio.

Without even finishing the bed, he quickly left the room with an almost growled, 'I'll be back,' heading down the hallway towards his boss's office with long strides.

He really didn't think Lovino would follow him.

"Roderich!" Antonio yelled, storming into the Doctor's office without even knocking. In the back of Antonio's angry mind, he had to give Roderich some credit for always looking so composed. He didn't look up from the paper he had been reading.

"Oh, yes, Carriedo?" He said, giving a fake startle when he finally looked up, like he hadn't heard his entrance at all.

"I need a new student! Please, I really can't handle being Lovino's supervisor anymore!" Antonio said, anger making way for desperation mid-sentence.

Antonio was actually surprised to see somewhat genuine sympathy in Roderich's eyes. The man gave a sigh, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his shirt before talking again.

"I'm sorry Antonio, but my hands are tied. You're actually the second nurse Lovino's worked under, which is why I told you he didn't need a tour or have many things explained to him. He was under the supervision of Kiku before, and he didn't even last a day! Kiku, who doesn't complain about a thing! So you're just going to—oh Lovino…! When did you get there!?"

Antonio felt his blood run cold, and he whirled around towards the door to see Lovino standing there like a deer caught in the headlights. Antonio locked eyes with Lovino, and they stared each other down for a few seconds that felt like hours.

Finally, Lovino opened his mouth, but all that came out was a little sob, which may or may not have been an attempt at speech. Antonio felt his heart go out for the boy in front of him, but before he could do more then open his mouth to say something, anything, Lovino had dashed away.

_Oh _dios_. What have I done? _

"Lovi, hey Lovi, Wait!" He called as he ran after his retreating student, taking a left in the hallway and just managing to see Lovino disappear into one of the empty bedrooms.

Antonio made himself slow to a stop outside the room, using the time to catch his breath and gather his thoughts. When he had composed himself sufficiently, he slowly opened the door, silently thanking any and all deities that the doors here couldn't be locked from the inside.

Slipping inside, he made sure to close the door quietly behind him, just in case Lovino tried to run again. While this precaution wouldn't do much if he really wanted out, it'd at least slow him down. With an internal sigh, he finally turned towards the barely heard sounds of crying.

Antonio felt his heart break at the scene before him. Lovino was curled up upon himself on the bed, his face buried in his knees, muffling the sound of his crying. Thankfully he didn't seem to have noticed Antonio's presence, and he wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. Making his way towards the bed, keeping his steps slow and careful, he probably would've made it unannounced if one of his shoes didn't scuff loudly against the tiles.

Lovino instantly looked up, and his eyes went as wide as saucers, staring up at the reason for his pain, who was only 2 feet away from him at most.

"Get out you bastard! Just, get out!" He hissed, scrambling backwards on the bed until his back hit the far wall of the room, trying to distance himself from the man before him, but really not getting that far.

Antonio just shook his head, turning around so he could carefully place himself on the bed, and before Lovino even had a time to react Antonio pulled him into a hug.

Antonio felt Lovino stiffen up almost instantly, and he was pretty certain the kid even stopped breathing. If Antonio could've seen the face that was currently smooshed up against his chest, he figured it was being bombarded by any number of conflicting emotions, but mainly, it probably just looked absolutely gobsmacked.

Just when he was getting worried at the fact that Lovino hadn't breathed yet, Antonio felt a huge, shaking breath wrack the body in his arms, and then Lovino started crying again with gusto.

Antonio just rocked the boy back and forth, muttering any number of comforting nonsense words in both English and Spanish and basically just letting the kid let it all out. _Because_, Antonio thought, having a mini epiphany, _that's what Lovino is, a kid. A scared kid_. _And no matter how difficult he is… he needs a friend. Could I be that friend?_

Finally the boys crying subsided and with a few last sniffles he moved away a bit, letting go of Antonio's shirt which he had grabbed while he cried.

"God," The kid started off shakily, just sounding absolutely exhausted, "I can't believe I'll be stuck with you for a whole year."

"A whole year?" Antonio asked confusedly, moving his arms away from Lovino so he could actually see his face when talking to him.

"Yeah. I only completed my first year in the nursing program at George Brown, but I got bored. So I'm substituting the second year with a co-op placement… didn't that wanna-be potato bastard tell you?"

"Ah, no." Antonio said, not even questioning the 'wanna-be potato bastard' part. He knew either way it meant Roderich.

"… But you wouldn't want me as your student for that long, 'cus you hate me," Lovino concluded, turning away from Antonio with stiff shoulders. His voice held so much self-deprecating conviction that it pained Antonio just to hear it.

"Lovino! I do _not _hate you! How could you think that?" Antonio said, gripping the boy's shoulders and forcing Lovino to turn around and face him.

He was actually pretty surprised when he was met with fiery accusing eyes, "No. Don't lie to me! You hated me right after you met me! I heard you call me a brat to Roderich! I thought I could prove you wrong, but then you went and asked for a new student!" Lovino practically yelled, shaking off Antonio's hands from his shoulders and scooting further away from him, though not breaking eye contact.

Before Antonio could say anything in the negative, Lovino started off again, and Antonio could only sit back while Lovino went into full-blown rant mode.

"It always happens like this! People don't like me, they never do! I have no friends, and the friends I did have all became my brother's friend instead, my _little_ brother! It's the same thing for any relationship I ever had, they like me just fine at first, and then they meet my brother, and right away it's like, 'oh, you look just like your older brother but you're _sooo_ much nicer, and cuter! Wanna be my boyfriend!?' God, it makes me sick. The only thing that's good about that is Feli always rejects the douchebags… no matter how much I feel inferior to him, he's a good brother. I just wish he wasn't so fuckin' perfect!" He finally finished off, panting due to exertion from his heart-felt rant.

Antonio didn't say anything for a few long minutes afterwards, attempting to process everything Lovino just threw at him.

"I don't hate you," Antonio finally said, "Please, believe me. But I want to know why _you_ hate _me_" Antonio said, staring at his lap.

"I-"

"No, please don't interrupt me. I don't want to have a student that hates me! I don't think I could handle it. And if you hate me then I wouldn't want you to be stuck with me either. I was asking for a new student for the both of us, kind of." Antonio finished, looking up at Lovino sheepishly, only to find Lovino looking absolutely confused.

"… I don't hate you, where did you get that idea?" Antonio could've burst out laughing from the absurdity of it all.

"Then why, Lovi, why do you act like you do? Always putting me down, punching me in the arm, and calling me the 'Tomato Bastard,' of all things!" Antonio exclaimed, running a exasperated hand through his hair.

Lovino quickly looked away, purposefully not meeting Antonio's. He was just starting to wonder where the sudden embarrassment was coming from, when Lovino finally said something.

"It's how I show affection, you stupid bastard."

The statement had been said so quietly that Antonio wasn't quite sure if he had heard Lovino properly. From the increasingly red colour the boys face was becoming though, Antonio knew that yes, Lovino had just said what he thought he had said.

_Cuteness meter overloading. Really want to glomp. Do _not _glomp! _

Holding himself back from pure force of will, Antonio felt the biggest, happiest smile he's sported in quite some time spread across his face. He couldn't resist pulling Lovino into a bone-crushing hug, which was a compromise in Antonio's mind as opposed to tackle-hugging the boy beside him.

"Oh you are just too cute! This was just a whole misunderstanding then! But I gotta say Lovi, you have an odd way of showing affection~! And you look like a Tomato right now Lovi! You're so adorable!" Even though Antonio didn't think it was possible, Lovino's face became even redder.

"Arghh, let me go, you're gonna suffocate me! And I am NOT cute! Or adorable! And what do you mean, I look like a tomato, you tomato bastard!?" Lovino growled, somehow managing to wiggle free of Antonio's arms.

Opting out of saying anything, Antonio just let the for once awkward-free silence reign for a while.

"You know Lovi, I have a younger brother too. Or I had a younger brother. I haven't talked to him for years, and I'm pretty sure he hates me, so I don't know if he still wants to be my brother…"

Lovino snorted, "Blood is blood. Having a brother is a life long thing. You can't just decide you don't have a brother, no matter how much you hate each other. But what brought that up? Talk about out of the blue."

Antonio laughed nervously, ruffling his own hair in an embarrassed gesture, before taking a deep breath and just deciding to spout out what was going on in his mind.

"Ah I know, but I was just thinking about what you er… ranted… about. About you and your little brother." Antonio said slowly, gathering his thoughts about him.

"Me and my little brother never got along, we always fought, as long as I can remember. We sent the other into the hospital on more then one occasion too. My Mom got really fed up about it all and left, taking my little brother with her when he was sixteen, I was seventeen. It didn't help that my parent's marriage had been shaky… but anyways, they moved to Portugal and I haven't seen them since. My mother used to call me on my birthday and Christmas, but whenever she tried to get my brother on the phone he would hang up. Last I heard he had moved out and was living somewhere in Lisbon, but I don't know anything else. Is he married now? Do I have a niece or nephew?" Antonio mused sadly, staring off into space, before talking once more. "I just… I just think you and your brother's relationship could be a lot worse, no matter how much you feel inferior to him. And anyways, your not! There are things you are better at doing then he is. You just gotta find it!" Antonio concluded with enthusiasm, doing a total mood 180.

"I don't really believe the last part, but it does suck about your brother." Lovino said simply with a reserved sigh.

In Antonio's mind he was setting a goal for himself for the year, replacing any and all phoney New Years revolution he had set last month.

For one, he was going to prove to Lovino that there were good qualities about him, great qualities, and skills that he had that his brother didn't. He was also going to be Lovino's friend, the best friend Lovino had ever had, no matter how unprofessional it was, and he wasn't going to shun him for his little brother.

The goal was set, and Antonio was determined.

* * *

**The Reunion****: **

**Early April, 2 weeks before story**

Gilbert could actually feel the medication seep into his system, clearing up the fog that had been clouding his mind for who knows how long, and slowing his thoughts down that have been racing before. It felt… good, to actually think clearly again.

But what wasn't 'good', was that with the clarity. His mind couldn't help but go over everything he'd been up to in the last week or so. All the stupid, crazy, the _beyond_ crazy shit he had done.

_And that house! _Gilbert thought with a groan, rolling from his back to his stomach. _Fuck, what if another house had caught fire? What if someone had gotten hurt!?_

He just wished all those memories weren't so damn clear! Gilbert really wished he could forget it all, or at least have those memories be foggy, like when you wake up from a night of drinking and you couldn't _really_ remember what happened last night.

This was so not awesome…

What was the most unawesome was what the doctors had told him earlier today back in Emerge.

They told him that he had been going through an extreme bout of mania, so extreme that he ended up entering psychosis. So, in short, he had been clinically psychotic.

On a more awesome note, Gilbert couldn't help but think of how awesome it was to have a grandfather who happened to be the president and co-founder of this hospital. While the man didn't come and mingle with the regular people much, everybody knew his face from the pictures that were hung up around the hospital. So, when he marched into emergency, people stopped everything and a doctor saw them right away.

Granted, it might've been because his Grandpa had his grandson in tow, and was having a hard time restraining said grandson. It also, just might've, been because this grandson just so happened to be struggling violently and yelling out German profanities. All the staff in Emerge probably thought it was best to get him help fast, this was a children's hospital after all. Even if the kids waiting to be seen probably couldn't understand what Gilbert had been saying, the crazy albino was bound to give some little kids nightmares.

It took his Grandpa, the doctor and two nurses to get Gilbert into the seclusion room, and they ended up having to give him a minor sedative to calm him down a touch.

After he had calmed down enough to actually sit down and talk, it didn't take long for the doctors to determine a few major things.

For one, Gilbert had been going through a severe bout of mania, and two, he was definitely at risk of either harming himself or others. So, in less then 2 hours (it usually took a _lot_ longer for this process to be completed) he was forced to change into the blue hospital pyjamas, and made to put all his belongings in a bag for his Grandpa to take home. Cell phone, wallet, cigarettes, and clothes.

In hindsight, they probably should've noticed that his lighter was missing, but they didn't. After managing to slip it into the waistband of the pants while changing, Gilbert still wasn't sure what he'd need it for, but he had just figured it'd come in handy. Anyways, after that was through, he was booted up to floor 5, unit C, otherwise known as the Psych ward for the Hetalian hospital for sick children.

By this time the sedative was wearing off, so he had some medication forced down his throat by a nurse. He was told to stay on the bed until it kicked in, then he could eat his dinner in his room.

But Gilbert didn't do well on his own, especially in situations where he didn't want to dwell on things, like now. He just had to figure out an excuse so they would let him eat in the lounge with that girl he'd seen in there watching T.V.

On the way up to the unit, his Grandpa had given him a very strict overview of how this unit**—** which happened to be one of the newest units in the hospital**—** worked. So he knew that new patients were usually left alone for a full day after arriving, where they were allowed to eat in their rooms, but then they were made to interact and eat with the other kids. He also knew that since the unit was shared with the eating disorder patients, who were the majority, so the so-called 'Crisis' program had a 4 patient limit. So that meant that the girl he had seen in the room could either be the only other patient, or she could be one out of 3 or 2 other patients. Gilbert didn't care either way. He just needed some company.

"Hey, nurse man, do I have to eat on my own? Can't I go eat with the other patients? The meds kicked in, anyways!" He called to the two people sitting in chairs outside his room.

He knew the friendly one who'd given him the meds was the nurse, and he also knew the other guy was Lovino Vargas, grandson of one of the other founders.

He knew the brat didn't like him much, always calling him 'potato bastard' (he became 'potato bastard #2 when his brother was around though) whenever they happened to meet. While he seemed to be ignoring him now, Gilbert hadn't missed the smug look on Lovino's face when he first saw just who happened to be their patient for the day. Gilbert had been kind of surprised to see the kid all decked-out as a nurse, but then figured he had gotten a job in the hospital as the happy guy's trusty sidekick, or he was something similar. He couldn't be more then 19, anyways.

Gilbert felt a bit bad for referring to the happy guy as the nurse man, because he knew he'd been given the whole intro when he had first come up. But his head hadn't exactly been in the right place then.

_You know, being all doped up on a sedative, which was wearing away fast, doesn't give you the best memory. _Gilbert thought, snickering.

The so-called 'nurse-man,' glanced over, and his trusty sidekick snorted, probably at the title.

"Ah, it's Antonio… and are you sure you want to eat with another patient? Most people like to stick to themselves for a bit."

"Well I'm not most people," Gilbert said with a smirk, and then becoming serious (for once), "I can't be alone right now, I'm thinking to much."

The guy, Antonio, didn't even question what Gilbert meant, and just nodded, looking sympathetic.

"Your dinner will be up soon, then you can go out to the lounge to eat with Elizaveta. She'd probably like the company. She's the only other patient now since the two other patients that were here just got discharged and admitted to the outpatient program. You'll probably meet them tomorrow at lunch."

Gilbert just nodded, not really caring about the info of the two other patients that he wouldn't meet yet, though it did give him an overview of who he'd meet tomorrow.

_Huh, Elizaveta… Veta… I remember him! I wonder what he's up to. It's been like six years since I last saw that dude, _Gilbert thought distractedly, thinking back to his time in Germany and his childhood friend, probably his only friend back then. _That chicks name just reminded me of him. I've been thinking a lot about that time… it doesn't help that I had to bump into the one person I didn't want to see again from then. Fuckin' Roderich. Why does he have to show up here, of all dumb places, and then look all smug-_

"Hey Gilbert, your tray's up!" Antonio called, cutting right into Gilbert's increasingly angry thoughts.

"When we had asked you what you'd like for dinner when you were first brought up, all you said was 'no birds,' so we didn't get you anything with chicken or turkey. I hope you like macaroni though!" He continued happily, and Gilbert could only wonder if this guy was always so bubbly.

"Macaroni's fine," Gilbert said simply, leading the way out of the room and into the hallway.

"Wait, Gilbert!"

"Yeah?" Gilbert asked, getting kind of annoyed. He was just starting to realize how hungry he actually was. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten… there just hadn't been time to.

"Sorry, I just wanted to tell you that after dinner we gotta talk to you about the medication we gave you. Your Grandpa actually recommended it, but we still gotta give you an overview of what it is, the side effects, all that stuff."

_Stupid pills, _Gilbert grumbled to himself, _I guess they're Ok if they stop me from going crazy again. I just wish my Gramps wasn't a doctor, and maybe it isn't that awesome after all that this is his hospital… _

Walking into the lounge, he found the girl he had seen earlier sitting at the table, picking through her dinner. She looked up when Gilbert walked in, and he was pretty confused when a look of pure shock came over her face.

"No way! Gilbert!? What are you doing here?" The girl exclaimed, equal parts exasperated and amused. "Man, I knew your Grandpa was the president of this hospital, and I just heard you'd moved to Canada… actually, I thought you'd end up in a psych-ward sooner or later, so meeting you here isn't that much of a shock at all!" She concluded, a teasing tone entering her voice.

_What the…? _Gilbert thought, mind going into overdrive on just who this person was and how did you know him.

_Oh no, it couldn't be, could it?_

"…Veta? But, No! Veta was a boy! And you have boobs!" Gilbert finally shouted, ignoring the snort from Antonio's sidekick.

The girl frowned at this, rolling her eyes. "That's the first thing you say to me after six years? No 'Hi, how've you been?' And, of course I have boobs. I'm a girl, I always was a girl."

"Er, so are you saying you're a transsexual? Like a girl that was trapped in a guy's body? 'Cus I'm really not following this. Did you get a sex change?" Gilbert said, feeling absolutely confused as he finally sat down in the seat opposite his old friend. Meanwhile, Antonio, looking absolutely bemused, placed Gilberts tray in front of him before joining his sidekick on the couch.

Before he could react, Veta, or whoever he (she?) was, stood up and whacked Gilbert upside the head before she sat back down.

"Hey-" Gilbert started, rubbing his skull,

"No, you idiot, just let me talk!" Veta snapped irritably, cutting off what Gilbert had been about to say. "I was never a boy, and I'm not a transsexual! My parents wanted a boy, and treated me like a boy. They called me 'Veta' all the time even though my real name was 'Elizaveta.' They probably would've given me a boy's name too if my grandmother hadn't wanted a child named after her…" Elizaveta trailed off, thoughtfully.

"So you lied to me then?" Gilbert asked, feeling oddly angry.

"No, you didn't let me finish!" Elizaveta practically spat, "_I_ thought I was a boy. What else was I suppose to think? My parents called me 'he,' and 'son'… when I started hitting puberty I got really confused. My parents still called me 'son' and stuff but I knew differently. Either way, I tried hiding the fact that I was actually a girl, and... I guess, since you were still around at that time, I sort of lied to you then… but not purposefully!" Elizaveta concluded, looking beseechingly towards Gilbert.

In response, he just shrugged. Gilbert couldn't really blame her after getting the full explanation. "I guess it's fine, but damn, this a weird way to find out… and it'll be weird calling you Elizaveta, It sounds too girly… can't I still call you Veta?" he asked, and frowned when Elizaveta shook her head, looking oddly serious.

"No, I don't want to think about that time… it was like another life, you know? How about Liz?"

"I can work with Liz." Gilbert said with a laugh, still not quite over how weird this whole situation was. Finally starting to eat, a thought came to him, "Ah, I gotta ask though, what made you start, y'know, _looking _like your gender?"

"Roderich." Elizaveta replied simply, looking thoughtful. "He was the first to figure out I was a girl and encouraged me to embrace it. He even went to my parents and convinced them to start treating me like one too."

Gilbert frowned, _that reminds me…_ "You know that bastard's a doctor here, right? A psychiatrist, of all things. I thought he wanted to be a composer or some shit like that. Also, isn't he too young to be a doctor? He's only like, seven years older then you, right? "

Elizaveta waited a few minutes before answering, finishing off the last of her food, a sad sort of smile on her face.

"Yeah, he did." She said finally. "Since his family was broke though, his parents really wanted him to get a good paying job, and they knew he was smart enough for something big." Elizaveta explained, giving a little shrug.

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain how he's a full blown psychiatrist at twenty-five." Gilbert grumbled, actually kind of curious.

"Well, he graduated highschool at fifteen, and finished his Bachelors in science in three years. It was at that time that your Grandpa got a hold of him. He'd heard of his excellence and made a deal with him—since they needed a new psychiatrist; they'd pay for him to come to Canada, then pay his way through med school. He completed med school in three years, and he got his psychiatric specification in another three, then they let him work here during his placement. Anyways, you were _there_ for most of it, and it was _your_ grandpa that pulled him into Canada."

Gilbert just snorted, "Yeah, I might've been _there_ when all his family drama was happening, but besides popping up at random times to bug him, I didn't really pay much attention to his personal life. Also, my Grandpa pulls in a lot of foreigners and pays for their schooling; it's one of his policies, so I don't really keep track of it. He never told me that Roderich worked here anyways until today, just before we bumped into him. Pfft, 'excellence.' When'd you become an expect on him, anyways?"

Elizaveta quickly evaded eye contact with Gilbert, cheeks becoming rosy. "When we reunited here we had a good talk, filling each other up on what we've been up to," She muttered, but then the regular fire was back in her eyes, "Anyways, it's none of your business, _Gillie_." She snapped, smirking.

Gilbert winced at the nickname.

"I hoped you'd forgotten that name," he grumbled angrily, stabbing at the last of his macaroni with more force then necessary, totally forgetting about Elizaveta's weird reaction when questioned about Roderich.

"Nope~" The girl sang, picking up her tray and walking out the door, a stern-looking man with longish blond hair following behind her. Gilbert figured he was her staff, like Antonio and Lovino were for him. _Where'd he come from though? _Gilbert thought bewilderedly, watching them leave.

_That guy kind of reminds me of my brother… speaking of which, I wonder how West is doing working in here for co-op. Of course 'Gramps is just using that as an excuse so he'll have another chance to groom West to become the next Pres. I wonder how's he holding up managing Feliciano though, he keeps on talking about how he's a real ditz—_

"Oi, Potato bastard, are you listening to us?!" an angry voice yelled, cutting through his thoughts.

_Heh, thinking about Feliciano and his older brother yells at me, _Gilbert thought smirking, before coolly turning his eyes to Lovino.

"No, I wasn't listening," He stated simply, smirk growing when Lovino appeared to grow angrier.

"Why you-!"

"Hey now, we were just wondering if you were finished! If you are you can come and throw your tray out with us, 'kay?" Antonio cut in. Gilbert probably figured he's been with Lovino long enough to have Lovino blow-up senses. Screw spidey senses, it was a lot more useful to sense when ever that kid was going to start screaming at someone.

"Oh yeah, I'm done." He stated simply, getting up with a stretch.

As Gilbert walked down the hallway to the reception area where the garbage's were located, he couldn't help but think about how weird it was to have a reunion in a hospital**—** a psych-ward in the hospital at that.

It was pretty awesome that it happened though.

* * *

**Some notes****:**

**So basically Lovino is going through the nursing program at a college (community college), which is usually a 2-year program, while Antonio became a nurse via University, which is a 4-year program.**

**Also, at least in Canada, most people graduate highschool at 18—though with how the Canadian school system works, if you're a born in December you could graduate at 17—get their bachelors (or undergraduate degree) in 4 years, complete medschool in another 4 years (though it might take awhile to be accepted into medschool) and then complete their training to become something specific (like psychiatry or medicine) in another 5. So on average, Psychiatrists become psychiatrist at around 30 years old. People can do everything in less time though, I think the youngest person to work as a psychiatrist was only 21. **

**Also, Pizza Pizza is an Ontarian Pizza chain**

**Translations****: **

_Infierno_ (Spanish): Hell

_Mio dio _(Italian): My God

_Nonno _(Italian): Grandfather

_Fratello _(Italain): Brother

_Napolis _(Italian): Naples (City in Italy)

_Dios _(Spanish): God


	7. Lies and revelations

**A/N: ****'Yello! I just, _just_ didn't make my 2 week deadline here! I had half the chapter written right after I posted the last one, but then with last weekend, I got a bit distracted. Canadian thanksgiving was last Monday, and my oldest brother was in town for the weekend from University, so I kind of lost my train of thought for the story.  
**

**Well, this is a bit of a sorter chapter, but, y'know what I realized when I put the whole story on one word file? This story is now 79 pages long. Sheesh, longest bloody thing I've ever written! Also, this story is almost exactly 2 and a half months old. Seven posts in 2 and a half months... not bad, eh? :P  
**

**And, as always, I would like to thank my reviewers! I'm going to do a master list of everyone whose reviewed, since I realized I might've missed some people in my thanking. So, I would love to give a big shout out to; spiritualnekohime4 and Karachan Furrimen (who reviewed last chapter), Lilliax-lolita, memoranda and AelanRyland011. You guys are awesome!  
**

**Now, long Authors note is getting long, but I would love to hear peoples suggestions in regards to this story! While I can't promise I would add in everybodies suggestion, since I do have a general sense of where everything is going, I would really like my readers input at the very least. Like if you would like to see more of something, etc.  
**

**Also, I'm going to be doing some general editing in the story, nothing major, really just grammar and changing my page breaks (since they're so finicky!) to ****o.0.o**.  


**Of course, I would love to thank the lovely Someone's Black Kettle for editing this chapter, and for being just a wonderful person with giving me ideas and the like.  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.  
**

******o.0.o**

Matthew was having a wonderful dream.

While he wasn't exactly sure when he had fallen asleep, there was no way this could be anything _but_ a dream.

For one, he had the ability to fly, and for another, everybody could see him.

In the dream, Matthew was going around the world spreading the joy of maple syrup to anyone and everyone, leaving maple syrup addicts in his wake. He felt like Santa Claus.

Matthew had just finished his trip around Germany—while there, he had visited Gilbert and had given him a bottle of _real_ maple syrup, proclaiming to him how 'awesome' the sweet substance was—when suddenly, he stumbled in his flight, like someone had shaken him.

Determined to get to Asia by sunset, he kept on flying, ignoring the faint voice that seemed to be calling him from somewhere in his consciousness.

"Mathieu, Mathieu?" Ignoring the voice, he shook his head and kept on flying, even though there was something niggling in the back of his mind that told him the voice was _very_ familiar.

"It's time to get up, _Il est tard._"

"_Non, je ne veux pas._" Matthew grumbled. Even though he was still pretty much asleep, his mind had registered the French and had responded accordingly.

The dream by now was fading fast, but Matthew was stubborn, and he really didn't want to fully wake up. The waking up process was just making Matthew realize just how tired he still was, and he would force himself back to asleep if he could get away with it.

"Hm, _d'accord. Alors vous ne recevrez pas votre petit-déjeuner,_" said the voice, which Matthew knew by now was Francis. He sounded so serious, talking about him missing his breakfast, that Matthew sat bolt upright, forcing his tried eyes open.

"'M awake." He mumbled, switching back to English. Skipping breakfast was something Matthew just didn't do, no matter how tired he was.

Sleepily, he looked around the room, and was slighting confused to make out three blurry forms of people who were standing relatively close.

Matthew had lived most of his life with very bad eyes, and for those years he had also been around bullies- as well as his brother Alfred-who found it absolutely hilarious to steal his glasses. Because of all this, Matthew had gotten quite adept at determining who a person was by the blurry blob of colour near the top of their head, which, more often then not, was the person's hair.

So using this 'skill', Matthew could easily determine that the blonde-haired blob standing the closest to him as Francis, while the brown-haired blob standing the next closest to Matthew was probably Heracles. The blob standing furthest away from him was a mystery though. Matthew was only half positive that this blob had black hair, and that he was relatively short, but that was all he could determine

Suddenly Matthew's world sprang into focus and clarity, and he sent his cousin a thankful look for putting his glasses on for him.

Matthew turned his eyes to the mysterious person in the room, which he could now see was a smallish Asian gentleman with pitch-black hair and brown eyes. He was so young looking that Matthews first thought in regards to the man was that he was another student like Lovino. The man seemed to have noticed he was being examined for he gave a start, and turning fully towards Matthew, he gave him his full attention.

"Hello, my name is Honda Kiku, or, as you westerners say, Kiku Honda. I will be your nurse for the day," the man said softly in a monotonous voice, though Matthew could detect an accent he assumed to be Japanese. The shallow bow the man gave during his introduction only solidified this assumption. His introduction as a nurse squashed Matthews previous thought that he was a student, and Matthew could only assume that he was just one of those people who looked young for his age, or he was pretty new to the job. Maybe both.

"How did you sleep… Matthew?" Heracles inquired quietly, an almost knowing look in his eyes.

Matthew glanced from Francis to Heracles to Kiku, all of whom were looking expectantly towards him.

"I slept fine," Matthew insisted simply. He didn't even have a clue as to why he was lying, and why the lie came so easily.

A look of relief overcame Francis' face, while Heracles' eyes narrowed, and Kiku remained unchanged.

"…Well, my shift is over. Kiku will take charge. Your breakfast is in the lounge," Heracles murmured quickly (for him), before turning on his heel and meandering out the room.

Matthew could've sworn Heracles had been angry, but Matthew quickly shoved that thought out of his mind, turning his attention instead to Francis who took a seat on the edge of his bed.

"It looks like our visit will be a short one again, Mathieu," Francis said with a sigh. "I thought I did not have work until five tonight, but I have been called in because the other chef is sick. But I have some good news either way! I finally got a hold of your _papa_!" Francis exclaimed, giving Matthew a wide smile.

Matthew couldn't help but return his smile, as well as his relief. Not being able to reach his Dad was really starting to worry not only himself and Alfred, but Francis as well.

"Really!? But why couldn't anyone get a hold of him for the last few days?" Matthew couldn't help but ask.

"He had lost his phone," Francis deadpanned with a small smirk. It was a well-known fact that Alfred and Matthew's Dad was horrible for losing things, and dreadfully disorganized. He never thought of giving any of them his hotels contact info also, because with his cell phones long distance plan he always called them, not vice versa.

"But anyways!" Francis continued, "You _papa_ was so worried! After he found his phone and received all of Alfred's and my frantic calls, he ended up calling me at three in the morning! He absolutely forgot about the five-hour time difference he was so worried! Ah, but I digress. He cancelled the rest of his business trip, but couldn't get a flight to Toronto booked until Tuesday."

Matthew couldn't help but release a breath of relief that he hadn't even realized he had been holding, and flopped backwards onto his mattress. Everything was fine. His dad was Ok.

He sat up again when a thought occurred to him though. "Um, Francis."

"Yes Mathieu?" Francis asked, giving his little cousin an expectant look.

"What day is it?"

**o.0.o**

It was a bit of a shock to find out today was Sunday, for it meant that Matthew had already been at Hetalia for a full 2 days… Matthew was torn between thinking it felt like he'd been here forever and a day to thinking he'd been here for no time at all.

After he had mulled everything over for a bit, Matthew said a goodbye to his cousin and then with Kiku in tow, walked into the lounge, stomach protesting loudly at it's delayed breakfast.

There he found Elizaveta finishing off that last of her own breakfast, and she grinned up at Matthew as he took the seat across from her.

"Good morning," Matthew murmured friendlily before starting to dig into his breakfast, not even caring that it had long since gone cold. He paused though, and glanced back up a Liz. There was something missing here…

"Did Gilbert finish already?" Matthew inquired, eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Nope. Poor guy hasn't even eaten breakfast yet." Liz replied, pointing a thumb towards the untouched tray sitting next to hers that Matthew just noticed. "Gillies a lot more… er, _calmer_ in the morning… maybe a bit grumpier, but generally easier to deal with. So the doctors have their meeting with him first thing in the morning, or else he'd be totally uncooperative."

Matthew nodded and made a small sympathetic noise, continuing to eat. While he felt bad for his (maybe) friend, there was a part of him though that was glad Gilbert hadn't had breakfast yet. Matthew really hated eating alone.

"Poor guy doesn't sleep to much during the night also," Liz commented idly, sitting back in her chair.

Matthew couldn't help but snort at that, stabbing viciously at his pancake with his fork. He would've stabbed it with his knife, but knifes weren't supplied to the crisis patients. While it was pretty easy to cut French toast and pancakes with a fork, Matthew knew it'd be a new learning experience when he had to figure out how to cut up a chicken breast with only a fork and a spoon for dinner tonight.

"Yeah, and don't I know it…" He grumbled, and as if to prove his point he gave a humongous yawn that Matthew could've sworn almost split his jaw in two.

Elizaveta, in the meanwhile, froze at Matthew's statement, before a far off look entered her eyes and a small smile overcame her face, a smile that he could only describe as slightly disturbing.

"Oh Matthew, Matthew, Matthew… I know that you didn't mean what I would've _liked_ you to mean, but you still gotta be careful on how you say things in front of me. It can give a poor girl… images."

Matthew could only just manage to suppress a shudder. He really didn't want to know what Elizaveta meant by 'images'… his attention snapped back towards the girl sitting across from him though when she muttered something in a language Matthew did not recognize. Even though Matthew had been curious, he had been too nervous to ask the girl earlier what language her accent came from. Matthew tended to be way too fascinated with people's cultures and different languages, and hearing the language spoken made his curiosity become unbearable.

"Ah, Liz, I-I don't mean to sound rude, o-or anything, but c-could you possibly tell me what language you just spoke?" Matthew asked shyly, fiddling in his seat a little bit.

"Aw, you are just too cute!" Elizaveta gushed, before getting a hold of herself, "And to answer your question, that language was Hungarian." Elizaveta answered simply, before another far-off look entered her eyes. A decidedly less creepy one though.

"I only lived in Hungary for barely a year before I came to Canada… I grew up in a small German town near the Austrian border, but both my parents are Hungarian so that was my first language. Closely followed by German and then English." Elizaveta continued, her voice switching from distant-sounding to musing.

"Wow!" Matthew exclaimed, "Your trilingual then? Cool!" He continued, gushing himself. "I just love learning about peoples culture, it has always fascinated me."

"Well if you have any questions about Hungarian culture, just ask! Even if I only lived in Hungary for a very brief part of my life, I made sure that I learned everything and anything I could about my parent's birthplace. Hey, but you have a bit of an accent yourself, no?"

Matthew blushed slightly. Yes, Matthew had been speaking (mainly) English most of his life, but he had also taken and still takes frequent trips with his cousin to either visit their (technically only Matthew's) grandparents in France or to stay in Quebec for most of the summer, and it had left it's mark. Matthew has a very slight French accent that he couldn't shake for the life of him.

"I'm French-Canadian. And I mean literally French from France, not Quebec… though I have spent a lot of time there. I have been speaking English, mainly, since I was three, but the accent just stuck, I guess." Matthew replied, feeling kind of sheepish.

Elizaveta just laughed merrily, before picking up her tray and standing up.

"I'm just going to throw away my tray 'cause they should be finishing up soon with Gilbert. Don't eat too fast though! I'll be called next to meet with the docs anyways." She said, before walking out the room.

Matthew just nodded, noticeably slowing his eating down now that he had satisfied the edge of his hunger.

And, as if on queue…

"_Verdammt_ I am starved!" An obnoxious voice bellowed.

Matthew, for his part, didn't even look up from his food. Living with his half-brother had made Matthew almost immune to loud, random exclamations.

"Aw, common Matt, acknowledge the awesome presence!" The voice whined, which was accompanied by the loud screech of chair legs against tiles and a _thump_ sound as _whoever_ it was sat down gracelessly.

_Hm, I'm getting an odd sense of déjà vu._

"You know, Gil, you're a lot like my brother in some ways." Matthew commented idly, twirling a forkful of pancake in the air before popping it into his mouth.

"What!?" Matthew actually looked up at this point, for Gilbert just sounded so pissed that Matthew was a touch worried for his personal safety.

"I'm not like that loud bastard!"

Matthew frowned at this. While true, that was going a bit to far.

"Oi! While you are right, he is a loud bastard, you have no right to call him that when you haven't officially met him," Matthew said stiffly, saying as much.

They glared-relatively empty glares though since they weren't really that mad-at eachother for a few long seconds, but the tense silence was broken as Elizaveta strolled back into the room, closely followed by Dr. Edelstein, Yao and Katyusha.

This meeting seemed to be an unplanned one though, for Dr. Edelstein looked surprised to see Elizaveta stroll into the lounge right before he did.

"Ah, Ms. Héderváry, just dropping off your tray, I suppose. Well, let's be on our way, hm?" Dr. Edelstein commented with an over-flourished wave towards the door.

Matthew was surprised to see Elizaveta frown at this. He didn't know whether it was from the use of her last name or what, but why would she be upset about that? It seemed to be Dr. Edelstein's style.

Silently she nodded, and then led the way out the door and most likely to her room.

"I don't get why that Bastard's so cold around her sometimes. I know it's probably because the other guy's were there, but still," Gilbert muttered, glaring at the place Dr. Edelstein had occupied seconds before.

Even though Matthew had a small inkling that this was a personal matter regarding Elizaveta, his curiosity got the better of him.

"But… while it's not particularly nice… why _shouldn't_ he be cold to Liz? They just met here… right?"

Gilbert, turning thoughtful eyes to Matthew, just looked at him for a few long seconds. He seemed to be debating with himself what to tell Matthew. "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't know." He finally stated, seeming to come to a conclusion. "Me, Specs, and Liz grew up together. Liz and him grew up on the same _property_ even. Heck, when Liz was little, Specs even babysat her. They became good friends later on though. So he doesn't really have much of a right to be like that to Liz."

Matthew felt his eyes grow wide. He hadn't been expecting that. "You guys knew eachother!?" When Gilbert gave a nod in confirmation, Matthew couldn't help but shake his head in amazement. "Ah… meeting up here… was that _planned_? If it just happened… Wow. What a strange place for an unplanned reunion," He murmured, a small, bemused smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

Gilbert snickered, his usual smirk reappearing onto his pale face. "Yep, it just happened. Liz was my best friend from when we were like _toddlers_ to when I was about eleven. She was twelve. I moved then from our town… it was more like a village… to Berlin, and from there, Canada."

Matthew could only nod, still pretty stunned from all that information. Gilbert started eating, seeming to just notice he hadn't started, and he shoveled the food down his throat at a breakneck speed. Matthew had the sudden urge to force Alfred and Gilbert into an eating competition… who could finish first wins.

Drifting off into his thoughts, Matthew couldn't help but think over the information Gilbert had given him. _So Liz and Gilbert were friends before. I should've figured. But Liz and Dr. Edelstein? They must be pretty far apart in age, right? He must be in his thirties, though he doesn't look it. Wait…_

"Hey, ah, Gil, what did you mean that they lived on the same property?" Matthew asked, realizing only after he said it that it must seem like a kind of out of the blue question to Gilbert.

Gilbert, on his part though, seemed very used to spontaneity—or he was just very spontaneous himself—for he didn't even look surprised from the question that was asked out of nowhere.

"Liz, her parents and Liz's uncle worked for Roderichs' parents."

"Roderich…?"

"Yeah, Specs."

"Oh… Dr. Edelstein."

Gilbert snorted at this, like he found the fact that his old neighbor was a doctor hilarious.

"Yeah, yeah. They only worked for room and board though, 'cause Specs' parents were broke. Liz's parents and her uncle were the only staff that remained loyal when they lost their money and had to sell the family estate in Austria, then move permanently to their summer home in Mittenwald." Gilbert almost sounded smug about this, and when he caught Matthew's questioning look he actually looked a bit sheepish. Only a bit though.

"I knew him before he lost his money… he was a rich brat, to say the least. His family would come to our Town for summers, and his house was right beside mine. His parents were friends with my Grandfather, so they came over a lot, and we would go there, and he would always shove his wealth in my face. We weren't poor… but my Grandfather believed in simple living. No excess." Matthew nodded once again. Gilbert didn't seem particularly hurt by what happened, but he could understand why Gilbert would feel smug now.

Matthew was about to go back to eating, but suddenly Gilbert's eyes had an edge in them.

"I was already friends with Liz then. Her family stayed there the year round with some of the servants, kept the property up. He looked down on me, for being friends with a servant. When he lost his money, he suddenly found himself on the same level as his servent… even if Liz had long since forgiven Specs for being stupid, I haven't."

Matthew gave Gilbert an understanding look, and he seemed to appreciate it for he gave a nod of his own and went back to his food, the edge gone from his eyes.

Matthew, seeing as he was done and that Gilbert was eating slower then he was before, decided he didn't want the conversation to die down just yet.

"How old were you guys when… Roderich's… parents moved permanently to… Mittenwald, was it?" This was also a good opportunity to find out how old Dr. Edelstein was. _It feels weird to call him Roderich._

"Yeah it was Mittenwald. We actually lived in the middle of the country, like a half hour from the town proper, but I guess it was still Mittenwald… But y'know, you can just say, 'when Specs parents became dirt poor.' It's not like he's here right now."

"And since Mr. Beilschmidt has not actually answered your question, Mr. Williams, I was sixteen when my parents very unfortunately lost their _life's savings_, Elizaveta was nine and Mr. Beilschmidt was a very… rambunctious… eight-year-old." Matthew turned slowly to the doorway, and was absolutely mortified to find Dr. Edelstein standing there oh-so casually.

"Mr. Williams, close your mouth, you look ridiculous." The man snapped, making Matthew's mouth shut with an audible _click_.

"_You_ did nothing wrong." He continued, "But please, call me, at the very least, _Dr_. Roderich. I worked very hard for my title." Matthew just nodded dumbly, before turning curious eyes to Gilbert who was muttering angrily to himself in German. He didn't seem bothered at all that Dr. Roderich… Dr. _Edelstein_ had heard him bashing at his family's misfortune. He just seemed bothered by the doctor's general presence in the room.

"Oh, and you just _had_ to point out that your young for a doctor, you smug bastard," Gilbert muttered out, in English this time.

Matthews brain did a little start, quickly doing some easy mental math. _Dr. Edelstein is only nine (practically eight) years older then I am. Twenty-five. He _did _become a doctor young!_ He thought, feeling increasingly shocked.

There was a flash of pointed smugness on Roderich's face when he noted Matthews stunned face, before it was quickly covered over by his normal professional mask.

"I have some business to attend to. I'll come to your meeting later." He stated simply before turning on his heel and walking out the room, leaving his two co-workers standing awkwardly in the doorway. Matthew hadn't noticed them standing there this whole time.

"Uhm, should I meet you guy's in my room? I need to get rid of my tray." Matthew said sheepishly. The two professionals (since they weren't actually doctors) exchanged a look, hesitating. Suddenly Kiku was at Matthew's side. He had been sitting, politely silent, on the couch this whole time.

"I will go with Williams-kun," the man stated in his usual monotone, but Matthew could almost decipher an eager edge to his voice, like he was using this as a chance to prove himself to his seniors.

He probably was.

Matthew was actually glad of all the manga he had read, for he didn't even blink an eye at the 'kun,' for he knew it was the proper Japenese honorific when referring to a male teenager- In general, a person of lower status.

Katyusha and Yao nodded, looking slightly relieved, before they turned and walked out the room. They didn't seem to know what to do without Dr. Edelstein presence. Even though they were definitely older then him, and properly more senior, professionally speaking, as well, they were probably just used to taking commands from a higher authority.

Matthew got up to leave, and almost ran into Elizaveta, who had been running into the lounge at almost breakneck speed. When she saw Matthew, she enveloped him into a hug. He hugged back awkwardly, musing on how he was getting a lot of random hugs lately, and feeling pretty overwhelmed by the unadulterated happiness radiating from the girl.

"I'm finally getting out of here soon! I'm getting a two-day pass, Wednesday to Friday! I might get out of here when I get back on Friday! I'll be back as an out-patient on that Monday though!" She exclaimed in a happy rush of words.

Before Matthew could give his own congratulations, there was a shout of happiness from Gilbert, and (probably because he was feeling left out) Matthew suddenly found himself in the middle of a awkward three-way hug.

_Well, this is new. _Matthew thought, starting to feel a bit claustrophobic.

"Well, aren't you guys, like, a big happy family?" An instantly recognizable voice drawled.

Matthew, his face becoming beet-red, looked around Elizaveta's shoulder to find the cross-dressing teenager Matthew had met yesterday on the 'other side,' standing casually in the doorway, looking like he owned the place.

Feeling ridiculous, he attempted to wiggle out of the three-way hug of death, but Elizaveta seemed to be way to happy to let go just yet, and Gilbert, simply put, just didn't give a shit.

"Yep, we are, so you can go suck it, Feliks! What are you doing here anyways?"

The teenager, Feliks, just snorted insolently, flicking his hair in a decidedly effeminate gesture. "Yeah, whatever. Let the poor kid go first, and I'll, like, tell you."

Elizaveta, seeming to have come down from her happy cloud, let go of Matthew. He was almost certain she winked at Feliks, sending a pointed look towards Gilbert. Matthew was also almost certain Gilbert hesitated a few heartbeats before letting go of him. Deicing to not feel unnerved by that, Matthew made a mental note to get use to friends showing physical affection. He was only used to it coming from his brother and cousin. His Dad gave him hugs or ruffled his hair affectinetly, but not to often.

Feliks snickered, but before he could say why he was in the doorway, there was a pointed, but still polite, cough from Kiku.

"Um… I need to get Williams-kun to his meeting. Williams, may you come with me?" Matthew nodded, sending apologetic look to Feliks, who just shrugged with a small smile.

Right when he was leaving the lounge though with tray in hand, there was a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he came face to face with Elizaveta.

"I just thought I should tell you and Gilbert before I forget, but there's a new patient in. We'll probably see him tomorrow."

**o.0.o**

**Translations (again, sorry if they are wrong, had to use google translate since my French sucks XD)  
**

_Il est tard _(French): It is late.

_Non, je ne veux pas_ (French): No, I don't want to.

_d'accord. Alors vous ne recevrez pas votre petit-déjeuner _(French): Okay. Then you will not get your breakfast.

**Posted: Sun, Oct 14, 2012, 12:30am**


	8. The beginning of the Mystery

**Disclaimer: I own Nothin'!**

**Warnings: Some swearing, talk of medication.**

**o.0.o**

Matthew ended up meeting the new patient sooner then expected.

It was later that same day and Matthew was coming out from the bathroom when he almost bumped into someone.

"I'm SO sorry!" They both said at the exact same time. Seeing as they both spoke over the other, they immediately started apologizing for that as well.

"Oh no, I'm sorry-" The boy with longish brown hair and green eyes started.

"I didn't mean to talk over-" Matthew said at the same time, blue eyes wide and apologetic.

"No no no, you go first!" The other boy stuttered.

"Oh, no, it's okay! Please talk first! I insist!" Matthew responded, very flustered.

There was a few moments after this of slightly awkward silence, both boys shifting from foot to foot, not sure what to do.

Kiku in the meanwhile was waiting patiently beside Zwingli, the other boy's staff.

He seemed stoic as ever, but Kiku was actually internally freaking out at the fact that Zwingli looked like he was about to smile at the situation playing out in front of him. Kiku had only seen Zwingli smile once, when his little sister Lili had been discharged and admitted to the outpatient program, and it had given Kiku nightmares for a week.

"We're not going to get anywhere like this, are we?" The brown-haired boy asked with a small smile.

Matthew returned the smile and shook his head, "No, I don't believe we will." He affirmed, feeling amazed at the little spark of kinship he felt with the boy before him, when he didn't even know his name.

_Speaking of which, _Matthew thought, just about to raise his arm to offer his hand to shake and introduce himself.

"My name is Toris, by the way." The boy, Toris, stated, extending his hand out to Matthew, effectively beating him to it.

"Matthew." Matthew responded simply, warmly shaking the boys hand.

Matthew had thought that he had broken his personal record and would never break it again when he had made friends with Gilbert in a day. He had to scratch that notion though as he started walking down the hall with Toris, easily chatting about anything and everything like they had known each other for years. They slowly started meandering their way to the lounge, Zwingli and Kiku in tow, looks of amazement reflected on their faces.

**o.0.o**

Toris had seemed hesitant when they had gotten to the lounge and had seen Elizaveta watching TV in there, so Matthew quickly reassured him that he didn't have to meet the other patients yet. Looking very relieved, Toris gave a very sincere, 'It was nice to meet you!' Before walking down the hallway towards his room, and Matthew noted that is was right beside Gilbert's.

That had been a few hours ago, and now the crisis patients (lacking one) were playing a game of clue, Gilbert's staff mysteriously not there once again and Kiku was dozing on the couch.

While the game had seemed really insane and fun at first (especially with how Gilbert played it) it was dragging on now. Each patient was just going through the motions, all in their own thoughts, all three of them taking turns to glance out the window at the slowly darkening sky.

Gilbert, not one to let himself stay bored for long and not one to hide it, finally had had enough.

"This is boring." Gilbert stated bluntly. "This is the third game in the row, and I don't want to play it ever fucking _again_."

Matthew and Elizaveta murmured their thankful agreement and they put the game away with out finding out who did it. Because Matthew was a big lover of mystery novels he had a natural knack for the game, and had been betting on Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with a knife. While it would have been nice to know the conclusion, to see if his prediction was right (once again), Matthew was just as happy to not find out.

There was never much to do after dinner, Matthew was realizing, which was annoying because the dinners were so early. The staff either did their own thing, watched a movie/ played a game with the patients or they tried to stuff more fruit down everybody's throats (really, Matthew had always been told it wasn't healthy to eat after a certain time at night, and here the staff were encouraging the patients to eat fruit at all hours).

While Matthew loved fruit, getting badgered all the time with, 'I'm going to the kitchen, would you like an orange?' was getting annoying, because Matthew was too polite to refuse. Matthew and Gilbert would also have to make the seemingly long trek down the hallway to the kitchen if Gilbert's staff wasn't there (as per usual) and Matthew's staff couldn't get another staff to watch them in the meanwhile. The oranges were pretty good here, though.

"Anyone have family visiting soon?" Gilbert asked out of the blue, probably not liking the silence.

"My Aunt might pop in." Elizaveta replied, sounding unusually solemn. Matthew was confused by the almost sorry look Gilbert shot her, like he was apologizing for asking the question in the first place, but Liz just shrugged it off. Even though Matthew was curious, he decided to not question it.

"My brother and my cousin are trying to schedule a visit." Matthew stated.

"'Trying?'" Elizaveta questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I just found out that they, as well as my Dad, got into a huge fight with Dr. Edelstein over the phone because they wanted to see if one of them could stay with me at night… not that I need it… but Dr. Edelstein didn't want that. Because of that Francis, my cousin, and Alfred, my half-brother, are talking to each other again. They weren't for a little bit," Matthew said, feeling a bit sheepish for how much information he gave.

Gilbert was busy snickering to make a comment yet, muttering something about how fighting with 'Specs' always made people closer because it was so fun. But Elizaveta furrowed her eyebrows in thought.

"My Aunt stayed with me at night for the first week. They told me it was allowed in special circumstances."

"I don't know if this is 'special circumstances,'" Matthew responded, thinking it over, "Francis and Alfred just don't want me to be alone. Also, my Dad, when he can get a flight here, would just want me to be near him for a while. He's like that. I think it's his way of apologizing for not being there when I needed him."

"It sounds like you have a great little family there, kid." Gilbert commented, finally finished laughing.

Matthew smiled wistfully, "Yeah, I guess they are. This might sound corny, but we are all we've got in the world, really."

"Why's that?" Elizaveta asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Well… my cousin, Francis, is not close with his parents, at all… actually, they disowned him. My Grandparents are in France. While they're nice enough- they took in Francis when his parents kicked him out- I don't feel all that close to them. My Dad is an only child and I've never met his parents because they cut ties with eachother around the time I was born." Matthew explained slowly.

Some people would find it strange that Matthew was telling all this information to people he barely knew, but the fact of the matter is that Matthew is an incredibly honest person when it comes to himself (unless he thought it'd hurt someone). He also never had anyone to talk to besides family about these kinds of things.

"Uhm, what about you, Gil? Is anyone in your family coming to see you?" Matthew asked, wanting to get the conversation off of him in case something _else _came up.

"Yeah, my brother'll probably pop up, maybe my Gramps. Hey, but how can you and Francis have different grandparents if you're cousins?" Gilbert asked, and Matthew wondered if Gilbert was just the type of person to catch little things like that.

"He's actually my Mom's cousin, so they shared the same grandparents, not me and him."

"Shar_ed_? Like past tense?" Gilbert questioned, surprising Matthew even more. When he glanced at Elizaveta she had the same, 'that's just Gilbert' look that she had had on her face before.

"Aha… y-yeah." Matthew replied, mentally steeling himself, "My-"

"Ah, William-san, maybe it is best if you don't talk about that right now." Kiku insisted out of the blue, effectively coming to Matthew's rescue.

_Thank God for people who can read the atmosphere__!_Matthew thought, letting out an internal sigh of relief.

Gilbert's mouth opened, and there was a look in his eyes like he was just about to tell off Kiku with, 'The kid can tell us what ever he wants!' He closed his mouth though and looked more curios then anything when he saw the obvious relief on Matthew's face.

A loud _creak_ came from the door, breaking the silence that had been stretching for the last few minutes, and all patients and one staff turned curious eyes towards it.

There, standing kind of awkwardly, was the dreadlocked man Matthew had seen yesterday in the lounge. He was lazily scratching his stomach through the material of his Hawaiian shirt, and Matthew couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the smell of cigar smoke wafting off the man. If the man noticed he didn't comment, which Matthew was thankful for.

"Hey." The man said in greeting to the room at large, waving a big hand awkwardly.

"Machado-san." Kiku responded politely in his normal monotone, but his eye's betrayed the faintest hint of coldness and suspicion. If Matthew hadn't glanced at Kiku when he spoke and wasn't good at picking up on those things, he would've missed it.

_Curiouser and curiouser__,_Matthew thought, and then he let out a small giggle when he realized he had inexplicably quoted one of his favourite books, _Alice in Wonderland_. He felt his face heat up though when everyone in the room looked at him, probably wondering why he had giggled.

Matthew, who wasn't used to being this noticed, had never had to internalize things like that because people wouldn't notice him enough to even hear it. In one of his lower points he had even ranted to himself quite loudly ('loudly' for Matthew being an average person normal talking volume) while he was 'hanging-out' with Alfred and his friends, and the only person to hear it was Alfred, even though he was only a foot behind the group. He was kind of glad they didn't hear it though, because he was mainly badmouthing the kids in Alfred's group. Matthew could only take so much, after all.

"Ah… I just thought of something funny." Matthew said awkwardly as a way of explanation, and, because he is Canadian, "…Sorry." The people in the room seemed to find this explanation satisfactory, for they all went back to their own things, except one.

"Hey, I don't think I've met ya yet." The dreadlocked man stated, walking up towards Matthew.

"I was only admitted Friday," Matthew politely explained.

"Ah, well, my names Carlos. Carlos Machado." The man, Carlos, responded, extending a large hand towards Matthew.

"Matthew Williams." Matthew replied, trying not to show his amazement at how much Carlos' darker hand absolutely dwarfed his own when he shook it. The man was actually a touch shorter then Matthew (if Matthew stood up straight) but Matthew had always had delicate hands with long fingers. Piano playing hands, Francis liked to call them, while Alfred referred to them as 'bird-like.' Matthew didn't normally notice it though until times like these.

"Do ya like it here so far? Making friends?" Then man questioned in quick succession, taking the chair beside Matthew's and plopping himself into it casually.

"Of course he's making friends! He's got us, right?" Gilbert cut in obnoxiously, gesturing to himself and Liz who was now sitting on the couch. She seemed to be showing a floral magazine to Kiku, and they both had suspicious blushes on their faces.

"Well that's good to hear." Carlos said with a smile. "Ya better be careful with this one though!" Carlos stage whispered, leaning in conspiratorially and pointing a thumb at Gilbert. This seemed to be a running joke between the two, because instead of getting offended, Gilbert laughed in his own strange way, eyes sparking with amusement.

"Yeah, you _better_ be careful! 'Cause I'm _so_ awesome you might die 'cause your awesome can't add up! …But your awesomer then most people, so you might, _might_, only be wounded," Gilbert said, with his voice loud and obnoxious to begin with and then lowering volume to a grumble for the last sentence.

Carlos leaned back his chair, threw back his head and holding his relatively large stomach he laughed uproariously. Matthew, though still recovering from the embarrassment brought on by Gilbert's hesitant admittance, couldn't help but start chuckling as well. Carlos' laugh was just that infectious, for it was full of warmth and very hearty, and Matthew could actually ignore the waves of cigar smell rolling off the man's breath.

As everyone at the table joined in on the infectious laughter- even Gilbert who had gotten over his embarrassment- no one seemed to notice the two people sitting quietly on the couch.

Liz, who had glanced up from her 'floral magazine' when Gilbert had talked, smiled once again in the same smile that Matthew correctly described previously as 'slightly disturbing.'

Unbeknownst to everyone (but Kiku who had differed himself from glaring at Carlos for his inappropriately obnoxious laughter), she pulled out her trusty notebook.

Elizaveta jotted down a few things, Kiku reading curiously over her shoulder the entire time, and when she was done, Liz closed the book and had it seemingly disappear into the inside pocket of the cardigan she always wore. Elizaveta looked at Kiku, who now had a very small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, and they shared a conspiratory nod. Without a word spoken between the two, they simply went back to reading their 'floral magazine.'

This 'floral magazine' just might've been hiding a certain Boy's Love manga… a certain BL manga that _may_ or _may not have_ been drawn and written by Kiku under a secret pen name. Elizaveta could never get a straight answer out of her partner in crime.

While Feliks was also in on the little project Elizaveta had going, she considered him to be more of an 'informant on the other side,' as opposed to a partner in crime. Funny enough though, Feliks was also someone, along with Roderich and Gilbert, that she had known BH (before hospital), for his parents had family in Mittenwald and they would visit them during the summer. She hadn't known him that well then. But when Elizaveta happened to bump into him at the hospital they bonded almost immediately. Later, when on happenstance she brought up her idea for what was now being called 'Project Y' by the three of them, he was all for it and also proved to be a very reliable source of information.

**o.0.o**

Francis and Alfred hadn't been able to book a time to visit that night, but with what happened after it didn't matter to any of them.

Matthew's Dad had finally been able to call 5C (floor + unit number) when Matthew was able to talk.

After the over-the-phone fight he had had with the Doctor sometime in the late morning, Matthew's Dad had angrily hung up forgetting for a second that he had wanted to speak to his son as well. The first time he called back he was told Matthew couldn't speak because he was eating lunch, and the second time Matthew was in the washroom. He was then told by the Egyptian secretary, Gupta, that he should call again around 6pm, because it would be sometime after dinner and the patients shouldn't be doing anything important. Taking the advice, he had called almost exactly at 6pm and was able to talk to Matthew for the first time in a week. And, as coincidence would have it, he had called right after the third game of clue had come to an early end.

Thus began one of Matthew's longest phone conversations in his life. So long that there was a line-up of kids wanting to call someone afterward and Kiku had to politely tell Matthew to wrap it up.

Before they started talking about everything and anything, the conversation started off very excited: His Dad had excitably informed Matthew that he had managed to switch his plane ticket for a redeye one that very night from London to Toronto and get home Monday morning.

Of course, with his Dad being his Dad, and Matthew too excited to think about it until the conversation was over, the time that his Dad was getting to the hospital was never stated specifically. Matthew knew it was going to bother him tomorrow, but that was tomorrow, right?

**o.0.o**

Later that night, Matthew triumphantly found a use for the ugly brick building that was his view out of his window.

It turned out it actually held offices of people who worked long hours, and if the light was on in the small office, and Matthew squinted, he could see the time on a clock hanging on the wall that was directly opposite his.

Matthew usually penned it off as a thing that came from his anxiety, but he never liked not knowing the time. It made Matthew incredibly nervous.

As a very heartfelt present from his family when he turned 14, they had all pitched for a beautifully ornate red-gold pocket watch, which had a beautiful carving of a bear and a moon on the outside. On the inside was an inscription that, though embarrassing, made Matthew tear up whenever he read it. It said: '_'The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be _**_seen_**_ or even touched - they must be felt with the heart,' Helen Keller_'. And below that, '_We will _**_always_**_ see you. Love, Your Dad, Alfred and Francis._' In the card that was attached, his Dad had scrolled in his messy hand writing, 'I'm sorry I don't have any family heirlooms to give to you or Alfred, but you can make this your heirloom to give to your kids when they're 14, and so on and so forth. And you _know _that I already gave that nice baseball bat to your brother on his birthday as his heirloom, so don't feel guilty.'

Matthew absolutely adored it, not only because it was a lot better then having a wristwatch (in his opinion) or because bears are his favourite animal and red his favourite colour, but because it filled him with hope, hope that he was actually seen. It was a hope he had around his family, but he didn't have it at school when no when appeared to notice him. So all he had to do to give him a little spark of hope was to reach into his pocket and pull out his pocket watch.

It had gotten lost two weeks before Matthew had gotten into the hospital.

He still didn't know how it could've happened. It was even with him at night, with the gold chain attached to the pocket watch looped around the top bar of his bedpost.

One of the few benefits of being practically invisible was that no one seemed to see Matthew enough to notice the expensive pocket watch he always had on him, so no one had ever attempted to steal it. Actually, another benefit of his 'ninja-skills' (as Alfred called it) was that the only people to bully were the annoying few in Matthew's class—since the kids in his class _had_ to know he was there to some extent—who exploited their 'Matthew-sight'. Anyways, just in case, Matthew always kept the chain securely clipped to a belt loop and made sure the watch itself was snug in his pants pocket.

He had felt horrible when he had reached into his pants pocket on the way to school one day and it wasn't there.

First there was panic, mixed with a firm denial against the fact that it was actually lost. At a breakneck speed he had had ran back home and scoured the house for it, looking all over, but no luck.

Then came the guilt.

Francis had popped in that afternoon after Matthew and Alfred's Dad had called him frantically after receiving calls from the school and from Alfred himself that Matthew hadn't shown-up for his first or second period classes. When he opened the front door, Francis had felt pure panic when he saw the state of the house: couch cushions thrown around, a lamp in the living room tipped over, carpets overturned.

Fearing the worst, he ran up the stairs two at a time and had literally burst into Matthews room, only to find his young cousin in the middle of the wreckage of the room, curled on the floor and crying his eyes out. 'I'm so sorry.' Was the only thing Matthew had said when Francis had gotten his attention, shaking him lightly and demanding to know what had happened and if he was hurt.

'I'm sorry,' he had repeated, 'I'm sorry, I'msorryI'msorryI'm_so_sorry.'

Pulling out from his thoughts, Matthew shook his head and blinked eyes that had grown dry from staring unblinkingly at the clock in the office for so long. It was 11:00 at night.

He had no excuse to still be up, since a friendly nurse had given Matthew his medication late this morning after his meeting, telling him in a kind tone that 'a little bird' had told her that Matthew didn't have a good night sleep last night. He knew for sure Gilbert wasn't the informant, so the only conclusion was that Heracles had told someone on the way out, and they told the higher ups.

Matthew wasn't mad about that, not one bit… he was mad at himself though that he still couldn't sleep even when the insomniac affects should've worn off by now. Well, no one had specifically said that, but Matthew just figured that was how it worked.

He really just had too much on his mind.

In the meeting today, which started off kind of awkwardly before Dr. Edelstein showed up, was all about what they called 'triggers.' Not only the little triggers that happened all the time that caused Matthew to feel anxiety throughout the day, but _the_ Trigger (with a capital 'T') that started his downward spiral that led to his suicide attempt.

And, of course, the missing pocket watch had come up.

It was something Matthew had been trying to forget, using to his advantage the little bit of relief he got from his anxiety that the medication provided.

All the talk about triggers and _the_ Trigger had made Matthew's head spin, and he spent a few hours that day relatively silent. He kept on getting prompts and nudges from Gilbert and Elizaveta, both trying to get him to talk more, but he just didn't feel up to it. What got him talking again was bumping into Toris coming out of the washroom.

"Oh, Mr. Kirkland, is it? They told me you and your brothers… and sister… would be up about now. Your youngest brother has been admitted, I presume."

"I'm right here, you bloody arse." A snippy British-accented voice cut in, responding to the voice of Dr. Edelstein.

"Shut yer gob, Arthur, he knows yer here, but he wasn't talking to ye, was he?" Another voice replied, voice heavy with a distinct Scottish accent.

"Uhum, quite…" Dr. Edelstein responded, and Matthew could just see him awkwardly adjusting the collar of his shirt.

Curiosity getting the best of him, Matthew silently poked his head around his slightly ajar door, only to take in the strangest family Matthew had ever seen.

The most noticeable of the bunch was the tallest as well as oldest.

He was standing in the middle of the hallway with arms crossed and feet apart, but even with the defensive/overbearing stance, he still looked uncomfortable in the stiff looking blue blazer he was wearing, and the tie seemed to be choking him. The man had the reddest hair Matthew had ever seen, and the curly mass of it on top of his head stuck in every which direction. He had a thick red beard that was neatly trimmed, but even through it Matthew could take note of a craggy looking face that would've been handsome if it didn't look so worn.

The next oldest was a brown-haired gentleman who was leaning against the wall a few feet away from the main group.

His eyes were a darker blue then his siblings, and he was clean-shaven and slightly baby-faced. Matthew figured the family was trying to look nice for coming to the hospital, for the brown-haired man was also wearing a suit though he looked a lot more comfortable in his neat black suit then his brother did. Even though he looked like he was trying to distance himself from the people who were more then likely his family, he looked at the scene with a morbidly curious expression.

_He looks like he's waiting for something bad to happen. _Matthew thought curiously.

The next two youngest looked so similar that they had to be twins, despite their differing genders. They both shared the red, shortish, curly hair as their brother- though their hair was less messy- and they also shared their brothers piercing blue eyes, though they glared out of pale faces covered with freckles. They stood in almost the exact same stance as their oldest brother, and they were standing on either side of him. The twins were glaring daggers at each other, and they looked like they hated the fact they were in such close proximities.

"I can't believe you even came. You _left_ us, I thought I wouldn't have ta see your ugly face again." The boy spat in an Irish lilt at his twin.

"_Feck_ _you_, Fergus. Arthur might be a brat but he's still my little brother. Of course I'm gonna come to support him, especially when it's actually _proven_ he's _bonkers_." The teenager said fiercely in an Irish accent that was distinctly different from her twins.

Matthew could only wonder how a family all managed to acquire different accents.

"God, all of you bloody wankers are just _horrible_. If you're going to talk about me, at least have the decency to do it behind my back, not when I'm standing right here!" The last of the family snapped in a prim British accent, only solidifying Matthew's wonderment.

His hair was blond and stuck up all over the place in the same way the oldest did, though it lacked the curliness. He kind of reminded Matthew of a hedgehog because of this. He had the same thick, dark, eyebrows the whole family seemed to sport (one of the only distinctive family features) that overshadowed eyes that were the sharpest green Matthew had yet to behold. If they looked at him, Matthew had the strangest suspicion they could pierce his very soul.

Almost as if to test this theory, those defiant eyes snapped towards Matthew, making his heart stop for a split second in shock.

"What are _you_ looking at?"

"Oh, I-I'm s-s-sorry." Matthew stuttered, hastily removing his head and shutting his door.

Or he would have if its progress hadn't been stopped from the other end.

"Williams? What are you doing up?" The curious but tired voice of Dr. Edelstein asked as the door swung open to reveal said doctor.

"Uhm… I can't sleep."

The doctor sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I was afraid that would happen." He muttered.

"W-what do you mean? I think I just have too much on my mind-"

"No, it's the meds," the Doctor snippily cut him off, sounding suddenly exhausted. "We thought giving them to you earlier might help the insomnia, but it looks like it's not doing that. So it will just be something you'll have to work around for the next week or so. With Paxil, things tend to get a bit worse before they get better."

Matthew wanted to pipe up with 'Well, you should've told me this beforehand!' But he bit his tongue. Instead he just nodded.

"I'll assign another one of the night-staff to keep an eye on you. The night staff you _were_ assigned should've informed someone you still weren't asleep."

Matthew just nodded again, hoping Dr. Edelstein won't get mad at Heracles, who was his staff assigned for the night.

They actually had had a good chat before Matthew had gone to bed. Heracles seemed so much happier then he had been this morning, and while Matthew's initial thought was that it was because he actually got some real sleep, he now had the sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the talk he had with Kiku as they changed shifts. Kiku had the oddest blush on his face as he bid Matthew a very polite goodbye.

"Well, anyways, try and get some sleep. I have to get Mr. Kirkland set up for bed since we are short staffed this evening… oh, that means you will have to be stuck with Karpusi for the night. I'll wake his lazy butt up. He'll have to watch both you and Mr. Kirkland this night." Dr. Edelstein grumbled, and Matthew could only stare at him in wonderment.

The Doctor must be very tired indeed.

**o.0.o**

The rest of that night was relatively uneventful, but not boring thanks to Gilbert.

The albino had waited once again until Heracles was asleep, though this time he wasn't conked-out at the reception desk. Instead he had fallen asleep in the chair between Matthew and Arthur's room, which happened to be right beside the other. While it was riskier this way, he was awesome, so Gilbert was still able to sneak into Matthew's room undetected. Well, in hindsight, that lady at reception probably could see him from down the hallway, but since she didn't rat him out for doing the same thing last night Gilbert figured she just didn't care.

Anyways, it was around midnight but Gilbert still found a very awake Matthew, which was cool because he hadn't been able to tell if his friend was awake or not. His door had been open, but all he could see was Matthew lying on his bed for the last hour or so. Gilbert was bored though, so he would've woken the kid up if he had actually been asleep- It probably wouldn't have given him the same brownie points from the kid that saving him from boredom did though.

Then, with out further ado, Gilbert had dragged Matthew off to Liz' room which was down the hallway a bit.

After waking her up, and almost getting murdered in the process, they all hunkered down and talked for a while, with Liz and Matthew gossiping about the new patient. Gilbert didn't though, 'cause he was way too awesome for gossiping like little girls. He only handed out possible _deductions _(like that Sherlock Holmes guy!), awesomely, of course, of what that snippy British kids story could be.

Liz had been pretty pissed at the fact that she hadn't been up to witness the weird-ass family, so Gilbert and Matthew each gave their sides of the story of what happened-Gilbert had been watching them from the beginning so he filled in Matthew on a little bit as well.

After about an hour, their guesses were getting increasingly ridiculous and Elizaveta was falling asleep, so they let her be and went to their separate rooms.

Matthew had only managed to doze the rest of that night, but he was fine with that- as long as he wasn't fully awake and bored out of his mind, right?

**o.0.o**

At 7:30 in the morning Matthew was very glad it was now officially Monday so he could stop dozing and get his shower/morning routine over with and change into a fresh set of P.J's.

At 9:00am, he was also very happy to have Antonio assigned to him once again as his staff for the day. Lovino wasn't there though, apparently he was sick. Matthew couldn't help but notice how much quieter and less chipper Antonio seemed without his student around. It wasn't to say that the Spanish man seemed down though, because for Antonio 'quieter and less chipper' was a normal person's happy.

Breakfast after that had come and gone, but during said breakfast Matthew had found out some very curious information.

Elizaveta had told him that she spent weekdays (from 9am-3pm) in the classroom with the outpatients, but not Gilbert. When Matthew asked his albino friend about it, the only words he offered was, "Yeah, they use to let me hangout there even though I didn't have any school stuff to work on. Not anymore though." When Matthew attempted to get more information on the matter, Gilbert wouldn't budge. As of yet, Matthew hadn't seen his friend so tight-lipped, so he figured it wasn't something he should pry into.

Also, during breakfast, Elizaveta and Gilbert finally met Toris. Matthew also found out that it was indeed normal practice here to ask someone's name before their age, so he ended up finding out that Toris was 17. After the backwards introductions were over with, Matthew spent the rest of breakfast chatting with him, picking up where they left off the day before.

No one but Elizaveta noticed the annoyed glances Gilbert kept on shooting at Toris.

That had been maybe a half-hour ago now, and Matthew knew he really should be paying attention, since his meeting was going on and all, but he really couldn't concentrate. All he could do was squirm and look out the window to see the slowly moving time in the building parallel.

"So we will have a family meeting today- Matvey? Are you listening?" the kindly voice of Katyusha questioned, nudging Matthew from his thoughts.

"Eh?" Matthew replied dazedly, glancing out of his window once again.

"No, he is _not_ listening. He wasn't listening when we were telling him the _important_ information about his medication and he's not listening now when we are _attempting_ to inform him of an _important_ family meeting!"

Matthew, fully snapped out of his thoughts from the very tired and cranky voice of Dr. Edelstein, felt his face heat up as he attempted to stutter out an apology.

"I-I'm sorry! I actually w-was listening when you w-w-were talking about the medication, b-but my mind is kind of in the clouds an—"

"Matthew, it's okay," the calm voice of Yao cut in, peaceably cutting Matthew off.

The youthful looking Asian man turned wise amber eyes to Dr. Edelstein, who was sitting in his chair, silently fuming. He looked like he seriously wanted to go off on a tangent while also wanting to fall asleep at the exact same time. He was clasping his empty coffee cup so hard the paper was crinkling, and he kept on shooting dirty looks at it like he was wondering why it wasn't refilling itself.

"Dr. Edelstein, why don't you get yourself another cup of coffee? Katyusha and I will finish up the meeting."

The Doctor opened his mouth like he was about to protest, but after seeing Katyusha's encouraging nod he closed it again. Without another word beside a nod in acknowledgement, he got up and quickly strode off, probably knowing this was too good of an opportunity to give up.

"Please excuse our colleague. He is very tired after last night and the meeting with Gilbert and his family was very stressful." Yao said with a bow of his head.

Antonio, who had been sitting quietly in the corner this whole time, muttered something in Spanish that by the tone sounded like he was saying something against Dr. Edelstein, though he was left ignored.

Matthew couldn't help but find the dynamic between Dr. Edelstein and Antonio very strange.

When the Doctor first saw whom Matthew's staff happened to be he had smiled coldly at the Spanish man, who had returned the smile, just as cold. They hadn't said a word to each other as of yet, but the normally overly nice and friendly Antonio had been glaring at Dr. Edelstein the entire meeting, who in turn simply ignored him.

"Yes, we understand that you're distracted because your Dad is coming to see you soon!" Katyusha chipped in cheerfully.

"Oh no, it's okay! But yes, I am very distracted by that. You were talking about a family meeting though?" Matthew inquired politely.

"Oh yes!" Katyusha stated enthusiastically. "We talked to your Dad after he talked to you and arranged a time to meet with you and your family meeting after you guys have time to visit! Your cousin and brother are free to join us as well. It will be like a... what is that word in English? _Партія_... Oh, party!"

Yao looked at his colleague and smiled at her enthusiasm, and Matthew could only smile at how he seemed so well practised at looking at a point somewhere above Katyusha's head when she got like this. Kat made rapid hand gestures in the same way Natalia did when talking excitedly, but instead of Katyusha's hair bouncing around from the movement, because it was so short, something _else_ did.

Matthew had to stare at his lap when that happened.

He was still blushing like crazy though at the fact that he swore he heard an audible sound when _that_ happened.

"Are any of your other family members coming to see you today?" Yao asked after a bit when Matthew's blush was under control.

"Yeah! Because Dad is going to stay as long he can with me, Alfred is coming straight here after school to meet up with us, and Francis should be coming soon after that. So we will have a little reunion! That seems to happen a lot here, doesn't it?"

Yao and Katyusha simply smiled at Matthew, but from the look in their eyes they knew exactly what he was talking about.

A few minutes of comfortable silence followed after this, with Yao and Katyusha jotting down some notes and Matthew contentedly staring out his window now that it was O.K. for him to do so.

"Matthew? There's someone here to see you." Even though Matthew recognized the German-sounding (though Matthew figured it was Austrian) accented voice of Dr. Edelstein, the use of his first name and kindly tone really threw him off.

But because he knew instantly who was at the door with the Doctor though, Matthew's head turned so fast that part of him was scared he'd given himself whiplash. The rest of Matthew was too happy to even give a damn.

"Dad!" He exclaimed, and sure enough there was his Dad standing in the doorway in all his glory.

Even now Matthew found it funny how identical Alfred and his Dad looked. They shared the same general face shape and body structure- though their Dad was still taller- the same short and messy wheat-blonde hair with the cowlick... they even had the same horn-rimmed glasses! Matthew had gotten his Dad's blue-that-was-almost-purple eyes and his delicate turned-upwards nose though.

"Hey Matt." His Dad replied with a slightly watery smile.

Matthew practically sprang off his bed, forgetting the height of it for a moment. He stumbled but managed to keep his feet, which was an accomplishment in and of itself for somewhat clumsy Matthew (he was never clumsy on the ice though, funny enough).

Matthew and his Dad weren't that big on physical affection like Alfred and Francis were, but they still shared a brief but heartfelt hug.

"God, Matthew..." His Dad muttered, pulling away from the hug but still holding Matthew at arms length so he could get a proper look at his son. "I can't believe you're in here... Are they feeding you properly?! I swear you're skinnier from the last time I saw you!" His Dad exclaimed, going from melancholic into what Matthew and Alfred called his Dad's 'mother hen' mode.

He turned Matthew this way and that while looking over him worriedly, and Matthew had to wiggle out of the hold and take a step back when he was starting to feel dizzy from the manhandling.

"I'm fine Dad, they feed me a lot here! Actually, the food's really good, and they have the crisis patients on a pretty strict diet, making sure everyone's eating enough fruit and vegetables and not too much starch and protein!" Matthew commented lightly, deciding to leave out what his medical team had told him yesterday.

They had informed Matthew between the talk of triggers that when they had checked his weight in Emerge he had been decently underweight for his height, and he still was now.

Matthew wasn't really that surprised, for he knew it this was probably because of the fact that he had eaten almost nothing during his 'worst period'. He had always been bad with eating when he's seriously anxious and/or depressed.

But because of that, Matthew had actually been getting more food then the normal serving. He wished they had told him that sooner though, because even though he wasn't surprised by the fact that he was underweight he still hadn't suspected a thing. All the crisis patients, and even the outpatients as Matthew found out from Liz at breakfast, had their weight checked every day.

Matthew only just found out how strictly monitored his weight in _particular_ was by the staff though.

When Matthew had asked about this, Dr. Edelstein had calmly told Matthew that when the nurses in Emergency found this out they didn't want to worry him, but Francis as his temporary guardian had been informed about it and about the altered diet plan. It was up to him to tell Matthew about everything, not the medical staff.

Part of Matthew wanted to be pissed at his cousin for not telling him in the first place, but he knew Francis really didn't know how to act around Matthew now that he was in here.

He had been told the story many times by his and Francis' Grandparents of how Francis had been constantly forced by his parents to visit his seriously mentally unstable aunt in a mental hospital in France as a child, and it had really traumatized him. So even though a large part of his cousin knew that the psych-ward in the Hetalian Hospital for Sick Children was very, _very_ different from that out-dated mental hospital he had visited, Matthew knew Francis didn't know point-blank how to act in this general environment.

Besides all that, Matthew knew that his Dad will be told in due time by people other then himself about the diet and about him being underweight, and he just didn't want to wreck the happy mood.

"...That's good," Matthew's Dad said slowly with some scepticism. It wasn't that he didn't believe his son, because he knew Matthew rarely lied, it was more like he knew something was being left out by him.

He knew it was left out with good intentions though, especially since Matthew didn't immediately explain like he normally would've after hearing the scepticism, so he didn't push it.

Instead, to show his Son that the subject had been dropped, he gave Matthew one of his patented 100-watt-smile (something else Alfred had gotten from his Dad). Without anything else said on the matter, he sat down on Matthew's bed, and, swinging his legs like an excited child, he patted the spot beside him, indicating Matthew should sit back down.

"So, tell me more about those friends you were talking about!" He asked when Matthew was seated, practically radiating enthusiasm.

"I think I told you all there is to tell." Matthew stated, pointedly sending a small glance towards the lingering medical professionals. Matthew thanked the heavens that Alfred hadn't have gotten his obliviousness from their Dad, for said Dad was actually a very observant person and caught the look with ease and rolled with it smoothly.

"Well, tell me later if you think of anything, okay?" He asked casually, even throwing in an undertone of disappointment for kicks. Then, like the subject was dropped, Matthew's Dad turned his attention to the other people in the room.

"Hey, I don't think we've been properly introduced." He stated simply, pointedly not looking at Dr. Edelstein and instead talking to Yao and Katyusha.

"Yao Wang. I'm a Psychologist here at Hetalia and one of the three people assigned to help your son. It's nice to finally meet you." Yao said sincerely striding over and shaking Matthew's Dad's hand.

"Likewise." He replied simply with a polite smile.

Then, turning his attention to Katyusha, he threw her his best charming smile (which was very charming indeed).

"And what do you do here at Hetalia, Ms...?" He asked, trailing off pointedly.

"Oh! Ms. Braginski. My name is Katyusha Braginski, but you can call me Kat. I'm a social worker." Katyusha said quite flustered, and whether it was from the charming smile or at the fact she wasn't prompt to introduce herself, Matthew didn't know.

Matthew had to roll his eyes as his Dad lingered longer then necessary in shaking Katyusha's hand with an overly sincere, 'It is _very_ nice to meet you.' His Dad could be a big flirt at times, though not as big of a flirt as Francis. For one, his Dad reserved his attention to pretty women, while Francis could flirt with anything. It didn't matter if they were a woman, man or sheep—It was just how he was.

Sometimes Matthew wondered if his Dad had always been this flirtatious, or if he had picked it up from Francis later in life. That could be possible, for Francis had actually lived with the family for a few years.

It was when Matthew and Alfred were 9, and Francis had been living in Montreal at the time and had been working odd jobs to pay his way through school. He had stopped being able to pay for it though as well as his small bachelor's apartment, so he was forced to drop out before he was done his last year of nursing school.

As luck would have it though, things were looking up for the Williams-Jones family. Matthew and Alfred's Dad had just finished completing his Business degree and he had been accepted into the company he still works at today. Because of the extra money, the small family had been able to move into a nice house and out of the crappy apartment they had been in beforehand.

His Dad had gotten the job as the _overseas_ Business representative though.

Since he was going to be away a lot, he had asked Francis if he would like to live with them as a sort of live-in babysitter until he managed to find his own job and place in Toronto. He had even offered to pay for Francis' last year of nursing school in a Toronto-based program, but Francis had refused, saying he had gotten bored with nursing and would love to set his sights on his real passion; cooking.

It ended up taking two years though for Francis to find a job as a suez-chef in the restaurant he still works at today (now as one of the two head chefs though). Then he had to work there long enough to gain enough money for the down payment of his own apartment, which was thankfully in the neighbourhood.

Matthew also had to consider that other obscure possibility though; that in a weird twist of fate, it was _Francis_ that had actually picked up on the flirtatious from _his Dad_, and then simply amplified it. He couldn't remember if one or both parities had been like that before they had all lived together, because the flirtatiousness of the adults in your life wasn't really something you thought about when you were 9 and younger.

"I don't think you have actually introduced _yourself_, Mr. Williams," Dr. Edelstein stated primly, cutting the silence, probably not liking how he was being ignored.

"Actually, it's Mr. Jones. Alan Jones," Alan said politely enough, but there was a split second of hesitation that no one seemed to notice but Matthew before he smiled and extended a hand towards Dr. Edelstein.

"I think I already introduced myself over the phone," Dr. Edelstein said during the curt handshake. "So you and your son don't share the same last name...?" He asked afterwards.

"No, Matthew has his mothers last name." Alan stated simply, but when he noticed Dr. Edelstein's quirked eyebrow a semi-covered look of resignation came over his face before he continued, "I was never married to her. I felt like Matthew should keep her name even after I took custody of him to honour her memory." Alan finished casually, but Matthew could see the way his Dad's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

It was really strange, because his Dad was the type of person who could get along with almost anyone. There was probably just something about the doctor that rubbed his Dad the wrong way, and Matthew couldn't see any evidence in Dr. Edelstein that the feeling was mutual. He didn't know the Doctor half as well as he knew his Dad though, so maybe he just wasn't picking up on it.

"Are you still having the meeting? I wouldn't want to interrupt if you were." his Dad asked false-innocently after the medical professionals were still lingering in the room.

"Oh no, you're not interrupting! We were actually just leaving, weren't we?" Katyusha said earnestly, looking at her colleagues for any statements in the negatory. When there was none, Dr. Edelstein, Yao and Katyusha finally said their goodbyes and filed out of the room.

"Aha~ I thought they'd never leave!" Antonio sang out happily, getting up out of his chair and stretching.

"You said it! Though I liked the others just fine, that doctor got on my nerves," Alan commented, giving Antonio his full attention.

"Oh yeah, Kat and Yao are great! Roderich though..." Antonio grumbled, trailing off pointedly.

"He seems like a prick to me." Alan stated simply. But before Antonio could respond to that, he went on, "But do you have any history with him? You called him by what I'm guessing is his first name. I doubt that guy gives it up easily." Matthew's Dad asked with genuine curiosity.

"Sort of. Ever since I started working here five years ago, he's been at me, and I don't know why. When I found out his first name by accident I clung to it 'cause I don't think he deserves the respect." Antonio said with conviction, and Antonio and Matthew's Dad shared an understanding nod.

"Oh wait! I don't think I've actually introduced myself! My name is Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, I'm a nurse here and Matthew's staff until nine tonight."

"Another long shift then?" Matthew asked sympathetically.

"Yep! You catch on fast to things, dont'cha?"

"Well-" Matthew started with a blush, not really sure how to respond to that.

"Of course he does!" Alan answered for his son, reaching over and ruffling his hair.

Antonio just smiled at this, "Well, I'll just sit outside the room and let you guys talk!" He announced cheerfully before going out of the room himself.

"That took more effort then I thought it would." Alan grumbled with furrowed eyebrows before smiling once again. "So! Tell me what you wouldn't tell me around the other guys!"

"I haven't been able to sleep because of the medication-" Matthew started, but was promptly cut of by his Dad,

"Wait, WHAT!? I knew those meds were a bad idea-"

"Just let me finish!" Matthew exclaimed with a huff, not letting his Dad get into one of those 'fight the system' rants.

"Alright…" Alan grumbled, attempting, for the sake of his son, to beat down his tendency to interrupt with rants and random exclamations.

"Francis and Dr. Edelstein told you about the medication I'm on, right?" Matthew started off slowly, deciding he needed to pick his words more carefully.

"Yeah. Paxil, right?"

When Matthew nodded his confirmation, Alan took a deep breath. "I only had time to do a quick search of it on my phone and while it doesn't look too bad if you don't want to be on it I can make a case for you-"

"Dad, you're doing it again." Matthew stated in his best no nonsense voice, cutting off his Dad's rant before it could properly begin.

"Aha… sorry."

"Okay, so I had been told about the possible effects of insomnia from Paxil from the get-go, but I was led to believe that if I took it earlier it wouldn't keep me up. It doesn't, we tried that yesterday."

"So are you sure-"

"BUT!" Matthew cut in pointedly, "I'm willing to give it a chance because it has been helping. I've been feeling a lot less anxious, and I'm still on a pretty low dose. I use to hate not being able to sleep, but now I don't mind it." Matthew explained, hoping his Dad would get his drift.

"Aha, so the conversation comes full circle!" Alan exclaimed, catching onto Matthew's drift indeed.

"Mhm. My friend, Gilbert, who I told you about over the phone, can't sleep either. So he's been keeping me company."

Alan smiled at that at first, but then frowned when a thought came to him, "You and him aren't, y'know…?"

"What? …Oh! Nono_no_, we're just friends, and he hasn't been keeping me company like, like _that_." Matthew stuttered out blushing.

"Hey 'cause, you know I wouldn't really care if you were. Then again it's kind of risky in a hospital…"

Matthew was torn between the want to cover his own ears or to cover his Dads mouth, so he settled for an exclamation of, "Oh God Dad, can we _please_ not talk about this!"

In response, Alan just laughed heartily, but when he saw his son's murderous expression, he, still chuckling though, threw up both hands in a placating gesture.

"Okay, okay, I won't talk about _that_. Though I'm curious as to what your preference actually _is_. It's always floating around with you, y'know? You can tell me! You know you can! Because you do know I wouldn't care if you were whatever, like straight, bi, pansexual, asexual… "

"Yeah Dad, I get it," Matthew grumbled, not liking how his Dad, like Alfred, was totally immune to awkwardness when Matthew himself practically swims in it on a regular basis.

"Well?" Alan prodded, poking his son in the arm.

"I think I'm… gay. Like, I know I'm attracted to some girls, but it's never really… well… a _sexual_ attraction, more like attracted to their general person. But I find guys… attractive… in… that way… though," Matthew muttered, getting quieter and quieter the more he talked.

Alan simply smiled and gave his son a quick one-armed hug; he didn't say anything though because he didn't want to increase his son's embarrassment, knowing it wasn't the time to tease.

"So, we were talking about Gilbert now, were we?" He inquired after Matthew's embarrassment seemed to be under control, effectively changing the subject.

"Oh, yeah!" Matthew said excitedly, perking right up. "Last night he dragged me off to our friend Liz' room- I told you about her, she's the Hungarian girl- and we talked for a long time. Oh, and wait till I tell you about this crazy family me and Gil were witness to…"

And so Matthew threw himself into yet another retelling of how he came into contact with the strange British family, and him and his Dad talked about this for sometime. In not too long though the conversation trailed off and they lapsed into a comfortable silence.

"I want to meet your friends." Alan stated with conviction, breaking the silence. Before his son could comment on it though, he decided to just plough on ahead with an explanation. "They all sound great; Gilbert seems like he would be a lot of fun to be friends with, and Liz sounds like a really great gal, tough too. And this new one, Toris, sounds like a genuinely nice person."

"And…" He continued, looking slightly sheepish. "It's not often you have friends to meet, and I'm really, _really_ happy for you."

Matthew nodded in understanding and started mulling everything over. How could his Dad meet his friends while they were all in a hospital?

"Well…" Matthew started off, deciding to talk it out with his Dad. "They're all in the lounge, I think. But parents aren't suppose to be in there while there's other patients-"

"Ah, I don't mean to interrupt, but I couldn't help but overhear…" Antonio started sheepishly, walking up towards the bed where Matthew and his Dad were sitting. "But if you and your Dad were to, ah, go into the lounge anyways, I wouldn't mention anything to the higher ups. Roderich should be home by now- he doesn't live that far away- and I don't think any of the uptight staff are here right now."

"So, this could be arranged?" Alan inquired with a grin, which gave Matthew a sinking feeling in this gut knowing his Dad was latching onto this possible course of action 100%.

"Yep, it sure can! Everybody's in the lounge, and they need me in there anyways 'cause Carlos is off for a smoke break again, so we could just go on in, and if anyone other then the kids ask just say you're another staff but from another unit!" Antonio said exuberantly with a mischievous smile. Matthew found himself surprised that the happy-go-lucky Spaniard even _had_ a mischievous side.

"Perfect!" Alan exclaimed happily with a big smile and an excited clap of his hands.

Before Matthew could get a word in edgewise though, to say that this might not be the best idea, his Dad had grabbed him by the arm and was dragging him out the room.

"Coast is clear!" Antonio stated in a half-whisper after superstitiously looking up and down the hallway when they were outside the lounge. The only person in sight was the half-asleep Gupta at the reception desk.

So, without further preamble, the group opened the door to the lounge and walked right in.

The scene that greeted the trio was akin to a war zone.

Toris and Elizaveta had their heads on the table that was covered with strewn about game cards, while Gilbert was sprawled haphazardly on the couch.

"So… bored…" He bemoaned as if on queue when Matthew and company were fully situated into the room.

"Well, ah, I hope I'm not interrupting…" Alan stated ironically as a way to announce his presence.

Gilbert's head snapped up in surprise at the new voice, but then he smiled crookedly when he saw who was beside the strange man and sat up fully. Silently glancing between Matthew and the stranger a few times, his smile morphed into his patented smirk and he pointed a finger at the man.

"You're Matthew's Dad, aren't you? Matt told us you were going to finally visit today, I just didn't think we'd get ta meet you."

"Well, I didn't think I'd get to meet you guy's also!" Alan said happily while pulling out a chair from the table and sitting on it, which effectively snapped Toris and Elizaveta from their daze of boredom.

"Ah…?" Toris asked dazedly when he saw the strange man sitting beside him.

"That's Matthew's Dad!" Gilbert announced proudly, probably because he had figured out who the strange man happened to be without having to be told.

"Oh, Wow! It's nice to meet you!" Elizaveta gushed from the other side of the table.

Alan, as per his usual, threw her a charming smile. "I'm guessing you're Liz?"

"Yes, yes I am. Aw, little Matthew's told you about me then, huh?" Liz cooed, sending a teasing look at Matthew who had taken the seat beside her.

"Ah, w-well-" Matthew stuttered out, hoping his Dad wouldn't try to embarrass him more then he already was.

"Yep! He's told me about all three of you guys, actually! That's why I wanted to meet you all!" Alan stated cheerfully.

Matthew was so mortified by this point that he buried his absolutely scarlet face in his hands and started muttering in French to himself. _Too late… _he thought despairingly.

"Oh COURSE He told you about us! We're _all_ awesome. Well, I'M the most awesome; these two are just awesome enough to be my friends." Gilbert crowed, getting off the couch and sitting at the seat at the head of the table.

"So you're Gilbert then." Alan stated with a small smile.

"'Course I am! There's only one Gilbert Beilschmidt." Gilbert replied with a grin.

Alan smiled back but then turned his attention to Toris who had been sitting quietly beside him this whole time. "So that means you're Toris." Alan stated simply.

"Oh, yes! I'm Toris Laurinaitis." Toris said in reply, introducing himself properly with an extended hand.

"Alan Jones." Alan replied, shaking the boy's hand.

"So, what were you guy's up to?" Alan asked curiously, glancing at the general disorder in the room.

"Nothing." Spat Gilbert vehemently with a muttered curse in German. "We've been just dying of boredom waiting for the Out-patients to come back from their little field trip. I still don't get why you didn't want to go, Liz."

"I just didn't feel like it this morning-I didn't want to go to the ROM* for the billionth time this year. I'm regretting that decision though." Elizaveta grumbled with eyebrows furrowed. "Does anyone know the time?"

Everybody shook their heads in the negative, including Antonio who was occupying a spot on the couch.

"Oh wait!" Alan exclaimed, startling everybody and snapping his fingers in an 'aha' gesture, "I forgot about the wonderful time-telling powers of cell phones!" He finished, reaching a hand into his pant's pocket and fishing out his iPhone.

"It's 11:55am." Alan informed the room at large after clicking it on.

"God I miss my cell phone…" Gilbert grumbled, giving the phone in Alan's hand a long look of longing. Even though Alan doubted his precious phone would actually be stolen, he quickly stowed his cell back into his pocket for safekeeping after seeing that particular look.

"Well, at least lunch will be coming up soon!" Matthew exclaimed cheerfully, trying to get the mood in the room to lighten up.

"Heh, yeah." Gilbert said flippantly while placing his head in his hand, still looking kind of pissed off.

Thus followed a few minutes of somewhat awkward silence.

Antonio had turned on the T.V and was watching a cooking show, off in his own little world. Toris seemed to just notice the mess the game cards was making because he was worriedly trying to clean them up, and Elizaveta had quickly jumped in to help him. Alan was staring at the ceiling, internally bemoaning his luck at having to meet everybody at a bad time. Matthew, on the other hand, had found a piece of paper and a pen on the table and had started doodling to entertain himself, Gilbert watching him the entire time.

"What are you drawing?" He asked after the doodle was starting to take shape, but he still couldn't figure out what it was.

Matthew startled and almost dropped his pen. He hadn't realized someone had been watching him. "A-a bear." He stuttered. "I know it doesn't look like one though, I can never get bears right…!" Matthew rambled after he saw how Gilbert looked down to scrutinize the small doodle.

"Hey now, none of that!" Gilbert chided half seriously with a bark of laughter. "I can see it's a bear now! And it's good, I could never draw like that!" Matthew, as per his usual, felt his face heat up from the compliment, and when he looked over at his Dad sitting across the table he saw that he had been watching the whole exchange. When Alan saw his son looking at him, he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows, and then was very satisfied when Matthew's face immediately went from embarrassed to half mortified, half murderous.

"Soooo, have you guys properly met that snippy British kid I was told about?" Alan asked out of the blue, deciding he needed to distract his son before Matthew decided to throttle him.

"Nah, not yet." Elizaveta answered, jumping into the conversation now that all the cards were cleaned up, "New patients usually like to stay on their own for at least a full day."

"While I don't know whether to be pleased or not that I'm _so _'famous,' it seems like you guys will get to meet this 'snippy British kid' before schedule."

The immediately recognizable British drawl made all the faces in the room pale (since Gilbert was already deathly pale though, Matthew could only tell how surprised he was from his wide eyes). When every face turned to the door to see the boy standing their looking quite huffy with arms crossed, everybody's expression (besides Alan, Gilbert and Antonio's, who seemed pretty immune to the feeling) went from surprised to mortified at the fact that they had been overheard talking about said boy.

"Er… how old are you?" Elizaveta asked the boy cautiously, probably trying to get back into the groove of things.

"That's quite rude, asking someone's name before their age!" The British boy replied snippily, which made Elizaveta blush at the fact that she was called out on something that was pretty commonplace here.

"…What's your name then?"

"Arthur." The British boy, Arthur, replied with a dry smile, "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Elizaveta raised an eyebrow at Arthur and then frowned at how smug he looked. To Matthew, his Hungarian friend seemed like the type of person who was quick with thinking up retorts, but because she was probably so thrown out of joint by the boy her mouth opened a few times as she fished for something to say.

"We'll if you're so _polite_, aren't you supposed to ask us our names after introducing yourself?" Gilbert piped up, effectively coming to his friend's defence.

This actually earned Gilbert a mildly impressed look from Arthur as he turned his attention to the Albino addressing him.

"…I suppose you're right." Arthur said begrudgingly before quickly changing the subject. "So, my fellow mental patients, what our your names?"

Even though Matthew himself felt a bit put-off by the 'fellow mental patient' comment, which, judging by his expression, was a sentiment reflected by Toris, Gilbert actually grinned at the comment and Liz managed a smile.

"I'm Gilbert Beilschimdt, the awesomest person you'll ever meet!"

"I doubt that, but I'll still keep that in mind." Arthur drawled sarcastically, though Matthew was pleased to see that Gilbert's comment had sparked some humour in the boy's green eyes.

"My name is Elizaveta Héderváry. I prefer to be called Liz though." Elizaveta said with a smile, but there was a challenge in both that smile and in her eyes. It was a look that screamed, 'Just _try_ and argue my nickname with me, I dare you.'

"Alright _Liz_. I have a question for you though; Are you Hungarian?"

"Er, yes." Elizaveta responded, frowning again.

"Hm, I thought so." Arthur replied, and without anything more said on the matter the boy turned and Matthew found himself under scrutiny.

"And you're the eavesdropper." Arthur stated flippantly giving Matthew a once over.

Matthew's mouth dropped open in surprise and when he managed a quick glance at his Dad he saw that his mouth was opened as well, but from the angry look on his face he had opened it to come to Matthew's defence.

Knowing the situation could get ugly, Matthew took a deep breath and smiled a smile that felt unnatural on his face due to how painfully fake it was.

"I'm sorry, I was just curious as who was talking outside my door last night. My name is Matthew Williams."

"So it _is_ true that Canadians are passive aggressive. Come on lad; stand up for your self! If I had said that to one of my older brothers I would've been punched by now." Arthur said with a roll of his eyes, but despite the sarcastic gesture the boy's tone had been friendly, amiable, even.

Matthew blushed and was just about to open his mouth and further prove how 'Canadian' he was by apologizing, but before he could do that he was startled by an arm draping over his shoulders.

"Do ya really think this kid would punch someone!? C'mon, look at that cute face!"

Matthew blushed even more from the contact, but he couldn't help an angry grumble when Gilbert poked at his cheek to prove his point.

Unfortunately for Matthew, this only earned him some amused chuckles. Gilbert took pity on Matthew though and removed his arm, but the grin plastered on his face was a bit too smug for Matthew's liking.

"Now, what about the rest of your names?" Arthur asked after a little while, glancing between Toris, Antonio and Alan.

Antonio smiled and turned away from the T.V to give Arthur his full attention, "My name is Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, and I'm a nurse here. Where's your staff though? While it's alright to be in the lounge as a new patient, you should at least be accompanied."

Antonio asked sheepishly, probably not liking calling someone out on things.

"He said he had to run away from his crazy sister, but that I should meet him in the lounge. He has to watch a boy named Toris as well since half the staff are sick."

"My name is Toris." Toris piped up, who had been daydreaming beforehand.

Antonio, in the meanwhile, had paled and quickly looked towards Matthew's Dad.

"I didn't know he was back from vacation! Alan, you and Matthew might want to get out of here while you still can!" Alan quirked an eyebrow at the ominous warning, but before he and his son could even make a move to stand up, a voice that sent shivers down everybody's backs sounded from the doorway.

"Oh, leaving so soon? What a shame! But while you are here, do you mind telling me why a parent is in the lounge with other patients~?"

**o.0.o**

*** ROM: Royal Ontario Museum, a large museum in Toronto as well as a big tourist/school trip destination. **

**o.0.o**

**A/N: Dum dum DUMMMMMM! **

**Well, I hope you guy's liked that chapter! And it was hopefully worth the wait too! And guess what the total word count added up to? 11,700 words. 27 pages. **

**I am sorry for the 2 month (Almost exactly) delay: I'm in my last year of highschool and it's been stressful, and I was writing this monstrosity that never seemed to want to end! I'll try to get back on schedule, but that will probably mean shorter chapters. I don't know if I could write one this long again! **

**If you couldn't guess, I've decided to move authors notes to the end of the chapter, so I can actually discuss things in the chapter without giving things away. **

**Next order of business: I hope you liked my OC! Me and ****Someone's Black Kettle**** have been brainstorming character traits and the like of Matthew and Alfred's Dad, and thus Alan was born! I had a lot of fun coming up with this character. **

**I'd like to thank the people who reviewed, favourited, etc! I don't know how many more times I will say this, but all you guy's are awesome! Everyone who stuck with the story, everybody. **

**I don't want to threaten people to review so I write quicker… but, y'know, it might work like that XD. Reviews either way means I get to see what people think of this story, and I love chatting with my readers as well! **

**And also, Thanks to ****Someone's Black Kettle**** for editing! **

**Translations****: **

_Партія _(Ukrainian): Party

**Date Posted:** Thursday, December 13th, 8:00pm EST

**Edited: **05/02/13 (2:18am)


	9. The Introduction of a Giant?

**Mini A/N****: First off, I'm sorry x_x. Another two months, and I don't have a giant chapter to show for it D:**

**I have the excuse of school being tough though, I'm on a weird semestered schedule so I had exams to finish and big projects to do, and then I lacked inspiration for a bit. Anywho enjoy the chapter, and have a happy Valentines Day all you lovely readers =D**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own nothin'**

**Warning: Just some swearing, as per my usual :P**

**o.0.o**

Standing in the doorway was one of the largest men that Matthew had as of yet laid eyes on.

Matthew, who was quite proud of the fact that he was on the tall side- he was almost taller than both his 'older brother' as well as his Dad, after all- but this man easily towered over Matthew, even if he had been standing up straight. Because of the threatening aura emitting from the man though, standing up straight was that _last _things Matthew wanted to do at this moment.

No matter how scared Matthew was of this man, he couldn't help but study him, for he was indeed an interesting subject.

His hair was a very familiar shade of silver blonde, and even though it was straight and well groomed, it was messily cut, like he had done the job himself. Also, even though the aura surrounding the man was threatening, his stance and general demeanour _appeared_ friendly.

His hands (Matthew had to stop himself from gaping at the size of them) were clasped loosely in front of him, and the smile on his face was small but bright. The man's voice with its heavy Russian accent didn't even add to his fear factor, for he spoke with the same childishness that was present in his eyes. Those eyes were interesting in and of themselves: they were a purple-blue, very similar to Matthew's own, and were alight with an innocent curiosity- wide and open.

Matthew knew there was something darker behind it though, and for the first time in his life he internally cursed his ability to read people so well.

The man's stance was relaxed, but the way his shoulders were tensed spoke volumes, and he stood perfectly still. There was an edge to the small smile, and it was beginning to look rather fixed on the man's face. His eyes, at face value, were genuinely curious, but there was a dark undertone in them that sent shivers down Matthew's spine… Though that might've been because the man had turned those eyes on Matthew, looking down his (rather large) nose at him, silently watching Matthew watch him.

"Hello~!" The man exclaimed out of the blue, and Matthew could only _just _suppress a squeak of surprise. "Who are you?"

"I'm Matthew." Matthew mumbled, eyes wide.

"You are new? Well, that is great!" The man exclaimed, asking and then answering his own question. "It's funny," He continued, before Matthew had time to speak, "You look like the loud boy that was here a few nights ago, arguing stupidly to let his little brother keep his teddy bear. So you're that little brother~?" Here he paused, actually waiting until Matthew gave a nod to continue. "The intruder is like his twin, and if I squint he looks like you as well, so he is both of your fathers, yes? Wonderful!" He finished, and Matthew felt like he had just gotten mental whiplash because the man's tone changed in the course of a minute. It switched from a tone more suited for an interrogation room to that of an excited child discovering something new.

"My name is Ivan Braginski." Then man said, finally introducing himself with an extended hand.

"Matthew Williams," Matthew replied without missing a beat, shaking the man's hand and almost perfectly hiding how surprised he was that _Katyusha_ was in some way related to _this man_.

"Well, isn't that great, you are nothing like your brother!" Ivan happily exclaimed after their handshake was done.

Even though Matthew was now thoroughly confused, he couldn't stop a small smile from spreading on his face. "How can you tell?"

"You are quiet, shy and polite- the total opposite of you brother- and you are also observant. If I had offered my hand to shake your brother's, he would have rejected it, or, at the very least, he wouldn't have bothered introducing himself a second time."

Matthew felt his face heat up from the compliment, and just when he was about to open his mouth to stutter out _God_ knows what, he was thankfully interrupted.

"Hey now, that's great and all but can you please st-" Alan began, finally getting over his silent wonderment that was brought on by the sudden appearance of the _giant_, and at the fact that his son was talking with him.

"And you!" Ivan cut in, turning his attention on to Alan, "You still haven't answered my question~. Please sit." He instructed, and even with the 'please' there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it was nothing short of a command.

Alan, even though his face was defiant and eyes calculating, immediately sat down, and to Matthew that spoke volumes on just how scared his Dad actually was of Ivan.

"Aha, Ivan, the lunches just came up…" Antonio piped up, deciding to talk and make his presence known instead of attempting (and failing) to become one with the couch.

Ivan barely even glanced at Antonio. "The others can eat, this will only take a minute."

"But-"

"Then Matvey and his father can go to his room with their lunch." Ivan cut in, still staring Alan down. "The loud mouth called, he wanted to let them know that he will be here with the 'frenchie' in ten minutes. I thought Matvey was a good little boy and he would be in his room with his father, but when I discovered the room empty, I found out that I thought wrong."

"Ah, Ivan…" Matthew started, not quite knowing what he was going to say but going on his gut instinct that told him he should probably say something.

"You can start eating. This doesn't concern you. Actually," He said, turning back towards Alan after talking to Matthew, "We will talk in your son's room, away from the children." And without another word he started towards the door.

"Hey, wait just one minute!" Alan called, jumping to his feet and finding his tongue once again.

"Yes?" Ivan replied, stopping in the doorway and glancing back.

"What authority do you have, ordering me around like that!?"

"Oh~? You didn't know? I am the head of the staff in this unit, directly under Dr. Edelstein and in command when he is not around, like now. If that is out of the way, you should come. Watch the children, Antonio~!" Ivan finished, and even though it wasn't spoken everyone knew there was a near audible 'or else' at the end of the seemingly innocent sentence.

**o.0.o**

The minutes that followed Ivan and Alan's departure from the room- Ivan in the lead and Alan sullenly following behind with a look of defeat on his face- were first filled with a tense silence. As if on queue, the silence was suddenly broken by everyone talking over the other, each with there own sincere apology for not coming to Matthew's defence. Arthur and Antonio even apologized, which was pretty surprising to Matthew.

"It's alright! Really it is, I know all of you guys were put-off by him, and Antonio, you _couldn't _say anything without threatening your job."

"Yeah, I know, I just can't believe I let myself be shut up by that jackass!" Gilbert near spat-out, sounding way more pissed-off then Matthew thought the situation called for.

"He and Ivan have a history." Elizaveta said, answering Matthew's silent question.

"Yeah we fucking do!" Gilbert spat, glaring at nothing in particular, "They couldn't find a staff that could keep me under-control in the first week- yeah, I got along fine with you, Antonio," he said, directing the last comment at the man in question, which made Antonio smile his normal bright smile for the first time since Ivan was in the room. "Me and Lovino kept on getting on each other's nerves though, and then I set those papers on fire…" Gilbert continued, trailing off for a second with a thoughtful look on his face, "So they gave me Ivan. For a whole. Five. Days. I thought I was going to go crazy, the man's nuts! He scared the shit outta me at first, but then I started fighting back!" Gilbert stated triumphantly, seeming to have calmed himself down with that said.

"Yep, those shouting matches were pretty bad, it was the only time I've seen Ivan lose his cool, and I've been here awhile." Elizaveta chipped in, which made Gilbert smile smugly, and to Matthew he looked like he was mentally preening himself.

"That man gives me the chills. I can't believe he's my staff right now…" Toris piped up, and he shivered as if on queue. Arthur sagely nodded his agreement, looking forlorn, though he didn't offer his thoughts. He had been unusually quiet, opting out of saying anything after his initial apology to Matthew.

"It's actually not too bad… unless he takes a liking to you." Elizaveta offered, though Matthew, Toris and Arthur all paled at the ominous-sounding last few words of her sentence.

"W-what do you mean?" Matthew asked, seeing as the other two boys seemed like they would like to know but were too scared to ask.

"Well, if he stays neutral towards you, he wouldn't care one bit whether he gets assigned as your staff or not… when he feels like it though, he has control over where each staff is assigned. So if he takes a liking to you, you'll be… stuck with him for a while." Liz explained, giving the three new (semi-new in Matthew's case) patients a sympathetic look, all of whom gulped almost in unison.

Gilbert, on the other hand, seemed to be very amused by what Liz had said. "Kesesese~ He took a 'liking' to me alright… and he regretted it afterwards. I was just too awesome for him!" He crowed, smirking once again.

"None offence intended, but how could he take a liking to _you_? He has to have very odd standards… you said yourself you were very hard to handle when you were new." Arthur asked, finally speaking after staying silent this whole time.

Gilbert snickered at this, not offended in the least. "None taken, and correction, I am _still _hard to handle. Since you're new, I guess you haven't noticed I'm only assigned one staff, _ever_. He's the only one I like, and who likes me back!"

"Aw, Gilbo, I'm flattered, though you shouldn't count your chickens before they hatch, heh?" Said a very familiar voice out-of-the-blue, and sure enough, when Matthew looked over, there was Carlos in the doorway, smelling like cigar smoke as always.

"Aw, that _hurts_ 'Los, I thought we had somethin' special!" Gilbert bemoaned, overdramatic as per his usual with an over-the-top pout on his face and a hand over his heart.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Carlos said with a grin, seating himself at the only available chair at the table. With six people seated at it at once, including 5 barely touched food trays, Matthew was starting to feel rather squished.

_I guess we're all too thrown out of joint to eat. I'm really not hungry. _Matthew mused to himself, glancing at his barely eaten tuna fish sandwich and garden salad. "But you never answered the Brit's question." Carlos continued, cutting into Matthew's thoughts.

"This 'Brit' has a _name_." Arthur cut in with barely concealed exasperation.

"Which is?" Carlos asked, turning his attention to Arthur, absolutely unfazed by the green-eyed boy's snippy tone.

"…Arthur." Arthur answered, sounding slightly put-off by how little of an effect he had on Carlos. He was probably very used to getting a reaction out of the authority figures in his life when he gave them attitude.

"Carlos Machado." Carlos offered with a warm smile and an extended hand, which Arthur shook with some hesitation.

"And to answer that unanswered question, Ivan really likes spunk in kids. He finds it entertaining. He just doesn't like it when those kids get out of hand…" Elizaveta said, sending a smirk towards Gilbert, which he returned.

"Yep, so you best be careful, Arthur. You _really_ don't want to get on his good side. And you will, with _that_ attitude." Gilbert snarked, grinning at Arthur who frowned, obviously hiding his worry with a glare.

"That's good then." Toris commented, and then looked surprised when people turned his attention on him. Matthew figured he hadn't realized he spoke out loud, and Matthew knew _exactly_ how he feels.

"And how's that _good_, pray-tell?" Arthur snapped, making Toris flinch and making Matthew's anger pique. But just when he was about to come to his friend's defence Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me, but I still can't see how this is a good thing."

"Um… It's just that… he probably won't like _me_. I don't have much spunk…" Toris admitted, getting quieter and quieter as he talked.

Matthew, feeling bad for his friend, patted him comfortingly on the shoulder, gaining him a thankful smile from Toris.

This time Liz actually noticed the quick glare Gilbert sent Toris.

"What's goin' on in here?" A loud voice boomed from the doorway, and Matthew could just suppress a despairing sigh. _He picks the worst moments to make an entrance, and does he have to be so _loud_? _

"Hi Al." Matthew said with a small wave, which Alfred returned way to exuberantly, "Ah, Dad's in my room being interrogated, I think he might need rescuing-"

"Oh _hell_ no, I saw who was in that room, and thankfully _he_ didn't see _me_! I guess you met him. Y'know, big, scary, and Russian."

"Yeah, that's him." Matthew replied, actually very surprised that his self-acclaimed 'hero' of a half-brother refused to save someone.

"Yeah, he hates me." Alfred replied simply, going to sit on the couch beside Antonio who had finished his lunch and was now fast asleep. "When he saw that you brought in Kuma the first night he was trying to get it taken away from you. I stepped in 'cause Francis was all stressed then me and the Giant got in a big fight. Frenchie started getting pissy at me saying I shouldn't fight when you were so near, even though we were far from you, so that's how me n' Francis started arguing outside your room." Alfred finished in a rush, beaming at Matthew like he had just explained the world's greatest problem.

"If he was mad that you were fighting 'so near me,' why did you bring a whole new fight _right outside my bedroom?_" Matthew asked in exasperation, because really, it didn't make much sense to him. That fight had been hard for Matthew, he hated seeing people he loved fight, _especially _over him.

Matthew couldn't help but feel satisfied at how sheepish Alfred looked at this, and his half-brother's eyes darted this way and that, looking anywhere but him when he answered.

"Er, well… we actually finished that argument, but the air was still tense, y'know? Things left unsaid and all that. So when we were coming back from the reception area where the first fight happened to say goodbye to you, Francis started ragging on me, saying what a bad idea it was to let me visit." Alfred finished, sticking out his bottom lip and finally looking at Matthew, sending him an expression reminiscent of a kicked puppy.

"As sorry as I am to admit it, he is right, I really wasn't myself that night." Francis said, seemingly coming out if nowhere. _Why can't people announce their presence _before _they talk? _Matthew thought with a mental grumble.

"Hi Francis." Matthew replied, turning towards his cousin who was leaning against the wall by the door, looking tired. Matthew figured he worked the night shift last night to get today off.

"_Bonjour _Mathieu." Francis replied with a small smile. "Now, while I'd like to stay and meet you all, it's looking rather, how you say, crowded, in here. Where's your _papa _Mathieu?" Francis asked, first addressing the room at large and then Matthew.

"He's right here." Alan said, walking into the room. To Matthew, he looked very resigned and tired. He stopped in the doorway to take off his glasses and clean them on his shirt, which was a nervous habit he only acquired when he was exhausted. Ivan stepped around Alan and fully walked into the room, perfectly contrasting Alan who was looking tired and relaxed with his genuinely happy and relaxed air.

"Now all four of you, off you go and have your little 'reunion' in Matvey's room. I'll even overlook the fact that the loud mouth was in the room with other patients, isn't that wonderful~?"

And not one Williams, Jones or Bonnefoy had anything to say in edgewise.

So without further ado and barely a goodbye said to the others, they all filed out of the room.

**o.0.o**

When they got to Matthew's room, Alan immediately flopped on Matthew's bed and threw a hand over his face.

Francis pulled the chair from the desk and sloppily flopped down in it, stretching out his legs and reclining in a rare show gracelessness. Alfred, on the other hand, pulled himself up on top of the desk and sat there with legs swinging, his (batman) running shoes falling to the floor one after the other.

Matthew, seeing that there was no where else to sit, sat down on the foot of his bed, poking at his Dad's long legs until, with a grumble, he shifted them.

"So… did you enjoy your talk with Ivan?" Matthew asked sardonically, and he was glad when his Dad removed the hand from his face to flash a small grin at his son.

"Of course." Alan drawled sarcastically, "Can't you see? I'm ecstatic."

**o.0.o**

**A/N: And some there ya go, now we meet Ivan!**

**I can't think of much to say here, but thank you to all my lovely reviewers! I'd like to give a big thankyou to everyone of you, new and old. **

**And as always, thank you ****Someone's Black Kettle**** for sticking by this story and editing :)**

**Date Posted: **Wednesday, February 13, 2013, 1:15am EST.


	10. An Adventure Will Happen, soon

**A/N: 30 Reviews guys, CRCL has reached 30 reviews! Everybody is awesome! I'll thank people more after the story, enjoy :D**

**o.0.o**

After Matthew's Dad's sarcastic admittance, a few minutes of peaceable silence followed.

Both Francis and Alan were wiped out, and Alfred seemed to be content to stay silent for once. While this was indeed unusual, Matthew wasn't concerned for he figured his half brother's mind was off somewhere else, probably thinking of his latest comic book or video game obsession. And of course Matthew was the type of person who was quite content to remain silent at any given moment, so he didn't want to question the silence because he was _very_ happy for this respite from his normally talkative family.

Matthew had just started skipping through dreamland when there was a tap on his leg by his Dad's foot.

"Yes?" Matthew asked.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think I'm recovered enough. Are we going to have this reunion or what?" His Dad queried, and sure enough the tiredness was gone from his eyes and was instead replaced by the energy Matthew was so used to seeing.

"Hm, Alan, aren't we already reunited?" Francis drawled from his chair, already half asleep.

"Nope. We gotta make this family reunion special, and we gotta get _you _some coffee." Alan said, scooting back until he was in a sitting position on the bed. He directed the last comment towards Francis, who cracked open one eye wearily.

"You know I do not like drinking coffee often… I have little tolerance for it."

Here Alan snickered, and Matthew settled himself back on his bed knowing this could take a while. His cousin and his Dad were stepping into a debate that they have had multiple times before.

"What did you use to stay up for exams then?"

"My own willpower." Francis countered, and Matthew was glad that the familiar routine of the debate seemed to be waking his cousin up. Francis sat up properly in his chair and finally opened both of his eyes.

"Ha, willpower! And what were your grades like again, hm? If I remember right, you were barely staying afloat."

"I had little interest in nursing. But anyways, what has that to do about coffee?"

"You might've done better in school if you were drinking it! And anyways, aren't the French suppose to be big coffee drinkers?"

"My parents would never let me touch the stuff. _Ils l'ont détesté_. That is why my tolerance is low. I was twenty the first time I had coffee, and I became too agitated."

"Yeah," Alan drawled with a grin. "I was there. You were out of your parents thumb by the time you were thirteen though, which is the normal age most kids start drinkin' the stuff. Why didn't you try it then?"

Francis sighed at this, and a far-off look came into his eyes. _This is new. _Matthew thought with piqued interest.

"I wanted to, but I went straight from living with my parents to living with Marie. We were barely in Canada a month before she… met up… with you, and when she was pregnant the smell of coffee made her nauseous… and then I had Mathieu to look after, it just never crossed my mind until you gave it to me."

"Oh." Alan mumbled, looking like he hadn't been expecting that just as much as Matthew. There was a heavy silence after that, and Matthew couldn't help but sadly muse about this newfound fact about the mother he had barely known.

"Hey, ah… shouldn't we be thinking about things to do instead of moping?" Alfred practically shouted, and Matthew could easily tell how awkward he was feeling right now from the over-the-top (Matthew felt sorry for the people in the lounge right now) volume of his voice.

"Ah, _oui_, we should," Francis agreed, getting off the chair and stretching, though Matthew could see that far-off look still lingered in his eyes.

**o.0.o**

Thus started an argument on what they should do next, with the family divided down the middle. Matthew and Francis argued for having a nice relaxing time in the room, watching a movie, while Alan and Alfred wanted to 'ask' (see: pester relentlessly) the staff to let them take a walk off unit.

Antonio became the unlikely hero then, stepping into the room looking a bit worse for wear- Matthew figured he had been given the riot act from Ivan for falling asleep on the job. With a (not as bright as his usual) smile, he had helpfully supplied the information that since Matthew was now on level 2, he was actually _allowed_ walks off unit, if accompanied by his staff.

Most patients would usually only be allowed off unit in stages: first they would take walks on their own floor, and only after they've done that a few times were they allowed downstairs in the busy lobby and main floor. Thankfully though, Dr. Edelstein had deemed Matthew capable enough of skipping the first step.

That's what led the family to be in this particular situation, waiting in a random hallway for Antonio to come back from the bathroom.

Francis was standing to the side, a Tim Horten's coffee cup in his hand shaking slightly from how jittery he was, and Alfred was using this opportunity to go off on a tirade about his most recent video game obsession. Alan was looking thoroughly amused at the state Francis was in, and was smirking to himself in a 'job well done' sort of way.

Matthew, on the other hand, was off to the side, busy gaping at three pictures he had happened to glance at on the wall in front of him, and in particular the plaques that were located below them.

"Klaus _Beilschmidt_, Romulus _Vargas_?"

"Oh~! You know my _nonno_?" Said a voice out of the blue, right behind Matthew.

Matthew was so startled that he whirled right around, only to be thoroughly confused by the sight of the person standing in front of him, who had his arms behind his back and a huge smile on his face.

"…Lovino?" Matthew asked blearily, taking off his glasses and rubbing them on his shirt. _No, that's not right; Lovino would never look that happy. _

When he put his glasses back on the differences became clearer, and even though Matthew knew beyond a doubt that they were related, they definitely weren't the same person. For one this boy was a good few years younger than Lovino, and his complexion was lighter. His hair was also lighter, and it had a more reddish hue to it then Lovino's. _They have the same curl though... _Matthew thought as he gave that curl, which was springing up from the boy's head, a weird look. _It's on a different side though._ His eyes were also different: they were a bright brown, though like his brother they had an amber undertone.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you're not Lovino." Matthew apologized sincerely. He knew how annoying it was to be mistaken for a family member.

"That's okay! That just means you know my brother too, _si_?" The boy replied, and even though Matthew didn't think it was possible, his smile got even bigger.

"Yeah, I guess it does." Matthew replied with a small smile. "Oh, and to answer your question I don't know your grandpa but I-"

"Feliciano!" A deep, distinctly German accented voice barked from behind the boy. Matthew assumed this boy was the Feliciano that he was calling for, since there was no one else in this hallway besides Matthew and his family.

"Luddy~" Feliciano practically sang, spinning around to face the boy who strode into the hallway. This particular boy was a bit taller than Matthew, and quite a bit broader. Judging by his face Matthew assumed he was younger then himself though. His eyes were a bright shade of blue, however they were overshadowed by an annoyed and decently stressed frown, and his blonde hair was slicked back from his forehead.

"I've been looking all over for you, you're supposed to be in the kitchen! Stop bugging that poor boy."

"Oh he wasn't-" Matthew started, but again he was interrupted.

"No, I wasn't bugging him! He was just looking at the pictures of our _nonno's_, I thought he might've known them!"

"Hm… alright." The blonde boy conceded, his frown becoming a bit less present, though it was still there. "Do you know them?" The boy asked, finally directly a question at Matthew, actually startling him. After being interrupted for the second time in a row, he had been settling into his status of being perpetually unnoticed.

"Ah, er, no. I just recognized the last names. I'm in a unit with a Gilbert Beilschmidt and I'm sometimes co-supervised by a Lovino Vargas. So it just… surprised me, that they are related to two of the hospital's founders." Matthew explained patiently after getting over his initial stuttering.

This actually made the blonde boy smile in a bemused sort of way, and Feliciano giggled. "Yes, I see how that would be surprising. It appears you have met our older brother's. I'm assuming you're a new patient in 5C?" He asked, and Matthew was glad at how polite this boy appeared to be. He had carefully stepped around the proverbial elephant in the room- more like hallway- that was the blue pyjamas.

"Well of course he is! He's wearing the blue pjs!" Feliciano stated, and Matthew just barely refrained himself from face palming. The blonde boy (Matthew was a bit annoyed that he didn't know his name yet) did not stop himself.

"Oh~ Feli, Ludwig! Fancy seeing you two here!" Antonio called, striding towards the group.

"Big-brother Toni~!" Feliciano cheered happily, waving enthusiastically.

"Aw, Feli, I'm flattered, but you know I'm not actually your big brother, _si_?" Antonio said with a laugh.

"Yep, I know, but you're _like_ my big brother!"

"Hm, alright. Speaking of big brothers, how's Lovi doing?" Antonio asked, a note of concern creeping into his voice.

Matthew was surprised at how much this made Feliciano's smile diminish, though it didn't disappear- It just took on a sad air.

"He's still pretty sick." Feliciano explained simply.

"Is that so?" Antonio asked, looking pretty worried, and then a bit sad when Feliciano nodded in confirmation.

"You should come visit though! I think the company will do him good." Feliciano enthused, starting to look a bit more cheerful.

"Do… do you think I should?"

"Yeah! He'd like that a lot. He might not show he likes it, you know how he is, but I know he'd like it. He's still grumpy as ever though!" Feliciano said, smiling once again.

"That so?" Antonio asked with a chuckle, seeming to have cheered himself up as well.

"Actually, he's grumpier." Feliciano conceded with a small frown. "I made him some soup before I left to come here and he threw it at me." Feliciano explained with an 'I'm use to it' air, which Matthew found strange because he was actually quite shocked from this information. Yes, he knew Lovino was grumpy, but to go as far as to throw soup at his little brother?

Matthew chanced a look at Antonio to see if he found this shocking as well, but there was no trace of surprise or shock on the Spaniard's face. He looked a bit pained from this information, but that was it. The same expression was reflected on Ludwig's face as well.

"Why'd he do that?" Alfred asked, and Matthew jumped at how close his brother was. When he looked around he found that his whole family had gotten closer, and he figured they must've been listening in the whole time.

"I put potatoes in the chicken noodle soup. He hates potatoes, and he hates being sick even more." Feliciano explained with a sigh, but then his normal cheerful air was back full force. "My name's Feliciano, but you can call me Feli! Who are you?"

"Alfred F. Jones, the Hero!" Alfred answered with a beaming grin that equally matched Feliciano's. _I bet these two are going to get along _very_ well. _Matthew thought with a small smile.

"Hm, yes it seems introductions are in order." Ludwig stated, very business-like. "My name is Ludwig Beilschmidt, this is my assistant Feliciano Vargas. We are working here as co-op students." Then, turning towards Matthew, "I apologize for not properly introducing myself sooner."

"That's alright. My name's Matthew Williams, by the way." Matthew said in the bit of a rush, jumping at the opportunity to finally properly introduce himself. He blushed because of it, but Ludwig only nodded understandingly. Matthew turned towards the rest of his family, who seemed to be awaiting introductions.

"Alfred's my brother, and that's my Dad, Alan, and my cousin Francis." He introduced, pointing to each of his family in turn, who either gave waves or simply nodded. "…and I'm guessing you already know Antonio." Matthew said with a smile, glancing over at Antonio, who was being pulled into a conversation about pasta by Feliciano.

"Yes, we've met." Ludwig answered, still all business. Matthew found this seriousness strange for someone so young, and also how much he contrasted Gilbert. _They're total opposites, and it's even more surprising that Gilbert's the older one. _

"What grade are you doing co-op for?" Matthew asked after shaking himself out of those musings about the brother's.

"Eleven." Ludwig replied simply, which made Matthew's eyes widen. "You're both in the same grade as me?" Matthew really thought that they were younger then himself, though he figured he was wrong.

"Yes, but I'm probably not the same age as you, if that's what has gotten you surprised. My brother and I are only one grade apart, but there's a two year age difference: I'm fifteen, so is Feliciano. Both Feliciano and I skipped a grade at one point during our schooling." He explained patiently.

"Oh, alright, thanks for explaining." Matthew said, ready to put this conversation at an end. But then he paused when another thought came to him, "How many years are between Feliciano and Lovino?" Matthew asked curiously.

He figured now was a good a time as ever to figure out Lovino's age, since Matthew could never figure it out beforehand. He had just assumed it was the type of person Lovino was, with a face and personality that made his age very hard to place.

"Lovi's four years older than me~! He's nineteen." Feliciano explained, finally stopping his tirade about pasta.

For some reason this appeared to be a shock to Antonio, who seemed to be paling from the information. "Lovi… Lovi's only nineteen?" He asked, sounding strained. Matthew glanced around to see if anyone else has noticed this behaviour, and it seemed to him that the only two people to _not _notice were Alfred and Feliciano.

"Yep, why?" Feliciano asked obliviously.

"Oh, er, nothing, I... I was just surprised." Antonio said with a peal of nervous laughter. He looked back at Matthew and his family and startled, looking like had forgotten that they were there.

"O-oh! You guys are still here... um well, look at that, our time is almost up! We should, y'know, go back up..." Antonio said, first pushing the cheer after he had gotten over his surprise, but then he seemed to have given that up as a lost cause in the end. Instead, looking to Matthew like a fish out of water, he dazedly turned away from the group and started walking.

"If it's alright with you, Feliciano and I will come with you. It has been a while since I went to visit my brother, even though we spend our days in the same hospital." Ludwig said, directing his query at Matthew and his family instead of Antonio, who was already a good distance away from the group.

"Oh yeah, that's no problem with us." Alan said flippantly, finally glancing away from Antonio's retreating form, a concerned frown creasing his brow.

**o.0.o**

"Oi, West!" Gilbert called, waving enthusiastically as his brother came into view. His grin got even bigger when he saw who followed his brother: Matthew, walking meekly behind the group and in a one-way conversation with lil' Feli.

"Hallo, East." His brother said with an overly serious nod. Gilbert felt himself bristle at this, though he quickly brushed it off. He had long since given up the battle to get his little brother to loosen up. _He drinks and loves beer, and he still calls me East. I gotta be happy with the little I got. _Gilbert thought to himself, giving a mental shrug.

"Enjoy your walk?" Gilbert asked, directing his question towards Matthew, who startled a bit. Gilbert figured he had been doing the only smart thing someone could do when being bombarded by Feli about pasta: zone out.

"Ah, yeah. I actually discovered some very interesting information." Matthew replied with a small smile.

"... Which is?" Gilbert asked, feeling a bit suspicious of the mischief in friend's eyes.

"I'll tell you after my family meeting, and anyways, your brother is here to see you." Matthew said, nodding towards his serious little brother, who was standing by a nearby wall with hands clasped behind his back.

Gilbert glared half-heartedly at Matthew, feeling a bit like he had been cheated by not being told about this supposedly 'interesting information.' He also didn't like the smugness on his friend's face. He knew Matthew had a point though, and Gilbert couldn't help a small prick of pride. _I could totally make this quiet, unassuming Kid into a troublemaker with just a little bit of prodding. And tonight he'll get a nice crash-course in breaking the rules. _Gilbert thought, smirking internally, thinking about that handy little key-card hiding innocently in his sock drawer.

"Um, Gil, have you seen Antonio? He should've been up here." Matthew said, giving Gilbert a weird look. If Gilbert could pale anymore then he already, was he probably would've right then, for he realized his smirk hadn't been as internal as he would've liked. Then he frowned, fully queuing in to what the kid had just said.

"Yeah, he came up a few minutes ago and said he was sick. He had to leave us when we're already short-staffed because of the extra patient!" Gilbert grumbled.

Matthew's eyebrows rose, looking surprised. "Seriously!? Then who's my staff? I have a family meeting scheduled with the doctors..." He muttered, trailing off before frowning. "Extra patient...?"

"Yeah, there's usually a four person limit for the crisis unit, but we have five because of Eyebrows. He must've been a real special case to get pulled in before Liz is discharged, and that's why the staff are runnin' around like chickens without their heads. Eyebrows and that other kid-"

"His name is Toris." Matthew politely cut in, and Gilbert could've spat. Not at the kid, of course, but at the mention of that ass. Yeah, he seemed nice enough, but he didn't like how easily him n' the kid seemed to get along, and Gilbert _hated_ how he looked at Matthew, which the kid never seemed to notice. _He looks at him the same way I look at him. _I _was here first though, and _I _liked the kid first. Damn, for a kid who seems to notice everything about everyone, he can be stupid about how people think of him._

"...Yeah, him." Gilbert finally said, continuing where he left off. "Anyways, that's why Eyebrows and _Toris _are already sharing Braginski, and now that Antonio's gone we'll probably share a staff as well. Heh, Tonio got assigned a shift starting at _five in the fuckin' _morning though because of it."

"So, Carlos then?"

"Yep." Gilbert said with a snicker. "And for once he's not out somewhere, he's in the lounge-"

"Hey Mattie, the receptionist just told me that our family meeting will be postponed until tomorrow, and we better head-out since it looks like it's gotten pretty chaotic here." Matthew's Dad said, walking up behind his son and cutting off Gilbert in the process. The loud-mouth and the Frenchie were hovering behind him.

"Okay Dad, it was really nice to see you! I'll see all of you tomorrow?" Matthew replied.

"Bright and early." His Dad drawled before putting a commanding hand on the loud-mouth's shoulder, who seemed to shrink, looking sheepish. "_This_ one won't be with us, 'cause he can't miss anymore school.

"Al, how much school have you missed?" Matthew asked, looking to Gilbert like an angry mother hen.

"Only today and yesterday! I even got Dad to call me in for today! ...But then there's all those classes that I've skipped that Dad just found out about." The loud-mouth said, seeming to become even more sheepish as Matthew's glare got sharper.

"Well... it was nice seeing you, Mattie." The loud-mouth said, taking on the look of a small, kicked puppy. He was so miserable-looking that even Gilbert started feeling bad for him.

"Yes, Al." Matthew said simply with a small smile, pulling his brother into a hug. He then went to hug and say a small goodbye to his cousin, and finally his Dad.

Almost as if on que and just as the last of the Kid's family disappeared out the door, Carlos shuffled out of the lounge.

"Hey Gil, Matteo! You two should come in here. Luddy and Feli can come in too, the Boss made an exception."

"Awesome!" Gilbert called with a grin. "So big bad Braginski is being nice today?"

"Ehee, yep." Carlos said simply, shuffling back into the lounge. Gilbert could only smirk at the fact that while most people would assume the 'Boss' would be Specs, but in reality most of the staff referred to Braginski as the Boss.

He looked back towards Feli, making sure they got the message. Seeing that they did, he grinned and grabbed his daydreaming friend by the sleeve and dragged him off- This was actually an impressive feet, for the sleeves of the blue p.j's were quite short- to the lounge.

**o.0.o**

The crisis patients (minus Liz, who was taking some down-time in her room. Gilbert couldn't help but feeling jealous that she got to go where she pleased) spent the rest of the afternoon after Feli and West left after their short visit attempting to gang up on and beat the unbeatable Braginski at crazy-eights countdown. After they had lost three games in a row, with Gilbert coming in second the first two games and surprisingly Matthew in the last, Gilbert challenged the big Russian to a game of chess, something they were both _very_ good at.

While Gilbert knew watching two people play chess usually wasn't the most exciting thing in the world, the other patients sat riveted, watching them play. Ivan had his quiet intellect, while Gilbert had the strategic power of a decorated battle commander. And Gilbert knew he was loud about it too. He was also _very _proud of the fact that he could rile Braginiski up enough with his taunts during the game that he would loose his quiet confidence and start snarling back taunts of his own.

The game ended in the stalemate just as dinner came up, and even though Gilbert was pissed at that because it happened way too often for his liking, he had been getting really hungry and he welcomed the food with an open mouth. _I can't wait to get off these damn meds, they're just making me hungry._

"Hey Gilbert?" Matt asked, breaking the dead silence that had fallen as everyone stuffed their faces. For some reason the food seemed particularly good tonight, and if the silence was anything to go by it was a sentiment reflected by the others as well. _Feli out-did himself tonight, _Gilbert thought as he chowed down on his pasta.

"Yeah?" Gilbert asked, swallowing what he had in his mouth.

"Are... are you a vegetarian?" Matt asked, looking very unsure with himself. Gilbert was glad he didn't have anything in his mouth at this moment or else he would've choked. _The awesome me, a vegetarian!? _Liz, on the other hand, didn't have this grace, and she choked on her food from her laughter. Thankfully, _Toris _was there beside her to thump on her back and hand Liz her milk carton.

"Him!? Vegetarian!?" Liz laughed out, after her coughing was under control.

"Yeah, seriously, where did you figure that?" Gilbert questioned, actually curious.

"Er, well..." Matt stuttered, looking embarrassed. Gilbert felt a spark of sympathy, _Maybe we were a bit too hard on him? _"You never seem to order anything with meat, and whenever one of us orders the chicken or turkey you glare at it."

_Oh crap, he does have a point. _"Yeah, that's true. I don't order the beef or pork because the Diet department- the kitchen here in-charge of our food- has no idea how to cook it. Other than that, I don't eat birds." Gilbert explained casually, trying to make it up to the kid.

"Oh, okay. Yeah that beef stir-fry I ordered the other day was horrible... But why don't you eat birds?"

_Arghh, not this story again. _Gilbert thought, quickly shoving more spaghetti in his mouth so he wouldn't have to answer. Thankfully, Liz jumped in to save the day.

"You know we use to live next door to the other, right?" Liz questioned, looking at Matt.

"Yeah, Gil told me."

"Alright then. When me an Gil were kids living in Mittenwald, Ludwig was given a puppy for his birthday which made Gilbert want a pet of his own, since he was older. Around that time a rooster had wandered into his Grampa's hen yard and had gotten one of the hens pregnant, so she had chicks. His gramps told him he could keep the only rooster that was hatched, so he took it in and raised him as his pet-"

"Yeah, and he was the best pet ever!" Gilbert grumbled, swallowing his food.

"Well anyway, Alder went with him everywhere, even when he went to my house. My parents didn't know the rooster was a pet though, and because roosters are the most commonly eaten and Roderich's family had just become broke... well you can probably figure out the rest."

"Oh." Matt said simply, looking slightly pale.

"Yeah, oh." Gilbert groused. "And the worst part is, they invited us over for roast chicken. I had no idea before then that you could eat chickens, because our hens were just used for eggs, and no one in the area raised chickens to eat. So I ended up eating my own pet without realizing it! After that shock I found out that you can eat all the other awesome birds too..."

"So Gillie made a vow to never eat another bird." Liz finished off simply, patting her friend on his back as he finished up his food.

The rest of the patients followed Gilbert's example, and once again silence reigned over the table.

"Holy crap that was good." Someone said afterward, and of _course_ everyone turned towards Gilbert before realizing it was actually Matthew who had spoken. Gilbert smirked as Matthew became sheepish, then he suddenly remembered the conversation they had had earlier today.

"You!" He said dramatically with a finger pointed at the kid, which made his kick-ass purple eyes widen.

"...Me?"

"Yes, you! You still haven't told me that 'interesting information' you discovered on your walk."

"Oh, that." Matthew said flippantly, smiling once again. "So when were you going to tell me your grandfather was _one of the hospital's founders?_" He said, his smile becoming sharp.

Even though Gilbert couldn't help but feel a bit unnerved, he kept his cool. It wasn't like he had been hiding it or anything, it just never crossed his mind. "When you asked about it." Gilbert said with a smug smirk, which got even wider when the kid looked a bit confused, like he hadn't been expecting that reaction.

"Er... alright. Could you tell me about it?" Matthew asked, a bit of hope in his voice.

"Yes, actually, I'm curious as well. Because of our shared staff, we might as well have something to pass the time in this dreaded lounge." Arthur groused as him and _the other one_ walked back into the lounge with Braginski after trashing their trays.

"Oh, how entertaining! It looks like he's going to start bragging about his grandfather again~" Braginski fake cheered, and even though his mocking words were directed at Gilbert, he could see that the man was actually looking pleased at the Brit. _I knew he was going to take a liking to that guy! Poor kid, he's not going to hide it by tomorrow morning._

"First off," Gilbert started off, purposefully ignoring everyone but Matthew, "My Gramps isn't just one of the hospitals founders; he's _the _president too." He was very pleased when the kid's mouth made a perfect 'o' of surprise, and his eyebrows rose up into his forehead.

"Oh wow! I swear they didn't say that on the plaques..." Matthew muttered, trailing off into thought.

"Yeah, they do." Gilbert said quickly, not wanting to loose his attention, "You probably were too shocked by the names that you didn't read the rest of it."

"Yeah, that's true. Now are you going to tell us the story of the founding or what?"

"Yeah, yeah." Gilbert muttered distractedly, gathering his thoughts. It wasn't like this was the first time he told this story or anything- actually, he would tell people this story whether they wanted to hear in or not- he just wanted to tell it _properly _this time, since he was telling it to Matthew. _No stretching the truth this time, right Gilbo? _

"Okay, so it all started like this..."

**o.0.o**

It was a long time ago, when World War II broke out. My great-grandmother was alone since her husband was off fighting, so she fled the country to live with her childhood friend in Italy. They did pretty well there for most of the war, but stuff got complicated towards the end of the war.

Within a month the other, Juliet Vargas got knocked up by a Spanish sailor, which tends to happen when you live in a town with a port, and my great-grandmother's husband came to see her while on leave and _she_ got knocked up also. Two months after that, after he went back, he died, leaving Erkia Beilschmidt a widow. Deciding there was nothing left for them in Europe and wanting a better life for their children, they smuggled themselves off to Canada, where they lived with Juliet's cousin in Toronto.

And so, Klaus Beilschmidt and Romulus Vargas were born in Toronto, within a month of the other in '44. Yeah, that was a pretty long explanation, but I had to explain how they got to Toronto.

Skipping ahead 4 years, they're 4 years old and the war has been over for 3 years. Erika and Juliet have been working hard, and they finally have enough money to go back home 'cause of two reasons: Romulus' Dad heard of the kid and got in contact with Juliet, telling her he'd marry her. Erika also found out that her dead husband, who was quite wealthy, had left all his money to the son he never got to meet.

So they went back and picked up their lives where they left off. My great-grandmother never got remarried and raised my Gramps alone.

17 years later, when my Gramps and Vargas are 21, they meet up and decide they want to leave Europe, and my Gramps wants to use his father's money for a good cause. So they go to the place of their birth, deciding that they want to find that good cause there. When they find out Toronto is in need of a publicly accessible hospital just for children, they find their cause.

It went along smoothly for them at first: they found an old hospital building for sale that just needed to be renovated, and the renovation got completed without a hitch.

But then, they find out they're flat broke, and they don't have any money to hire the staff. They also realize they have no idea how to run a hospital.

Along comes Hiroshi Honda, an older man who already had experience opening and running a hospital in Japan. He offered them a partnership as well as mentorship, but only if they completed-they both had their Bachelors in Science- some useful schooling, which he'd pay for. That's why my Gramps does that for what he calls; 'those diamonds in the rough.' Pfffttt.

Anyways, they completed their schooling, both coming out as Doctors. My Gramps specialized in medicine though, while Vargas became a paediatrician.

The Hetalian Hospital for Sick Children was opened to the public in the summer of '72.

A few years later though my Gramps and Vargas felt the need to go back to Europe and settle down to raise a family, so they went back to their respective countries and did just that. Honda, on the other hand, already had a wife and son in Japan, and he came to Canada to escape that responsibility. So he stayed and became the sole president of the hospital.

He died 3 years ago though, which is why my Gramps and Vargas came back. In his will, Honda had left the hospital to my Gramps. So he decided to move me and my brother here, since we were both unhappy in Berlin. Vargas was only planning to stay for the funeral, but he decided to stay permanently and take his place as head Paediatrician again, so he moved all of his stuff as well as his two Grandsons here.

Since most of you have met Kiku, you're probably curious how he got here. Well he actually came awhile beforehand to care for his sick grandfather.

And there you have it: you got an explanation for the hospital's founding and a bit extra.

**o.0.o**

After Gilbert had finished his story, there had been some silence as everyone in the lounge processed the interesting tale. Then, like someone had spoken a magic word, there was a shift in the room and all at once people started doing their own thing.

Gilbert managed to attach himself to a passing staff and convinced the lady to open his cupboard so he could grab his journal and write about his day so far.

Keeping a journal was something the doctors had recommended on his second day here, but little did they know he was already an avid journal keeper, and had been since he was young.

Yeah, he knew his journal entries as a little kid weren't serious and were usually pretty short, but still, it was the thought that counted. Really, last time Gilbert looked at the journal entries from his time in Mittenwald, all of them just consisted of: 'I annoyed Specs today, I'm awesome!' or, 'I beat Veta in a fight today!' though usually, 'I can't believe Veta beat me up again!' Gilbert didn't like thinking about that now though, because it was still hard to believe that one: he had hit a girl before, and two: he had been beaten up by that girl, Way. Too. Many. _Times_.

Anyways, after he had moved to Berlin at age eleven, his journal entries got a lot more serious and longer. They became his way of dealing with the many shitty things that came at that time; loneliness, bullies and puberty. The bullies weren't really the problem after a while, because he ended up scaring them off when he'd fight back a bit too fiercely for their tastes. Then they just left him alone, so the loneliness tripled.

It wasn't like he didn't have any friends, he had a few. He was actually good friends with an older kid from the Netherlands who took him under his wing for a little bit, but things got a bit... weird... between them a bit before Gilbert moved to Toronto. Puberty actually wasn't that bad if you didn't count the fact that at age thirteen the mania swung in for him, which made his classmates push him away even further.

It was right then that Gilbert looked down to his lap and realized he hadn't written anything yet, and the lid on his pen was already thoroughly gnawed on. Taking it out of his mouth he gave the slobbery black pen a look of distaste before he simply shrugged and wiped it on his pants, and then started writing;

_Sheesh, today was long! I thought today was going to be boring in the morning, and then Braginski showed up randomly. I feel pretty bad for Matt's Dad, and especially for Antonio. That guy could've at least taken him out in the hallway to yell at him, but nope, he just __had__ to do that with all of us in there. I'm glad the kid wasn't there for that, and I hope he get's out of here before he sees how scary Braginski can be (I thought that other kid was going to pee himself)._

_While he's here though, I got big plans for him..._

**o.0.o**

By the time Gilbert closed his journal and looked out his window (still _very _thankful that he had a better view then Matt's) it was dark outside.

Gilbert figured he should probably find his staff and get a shower in before med-time. _Huh, and that means Matt will probably be taking a shower at the same time since we share a staff... _he thought, trying to fight down the growing blush on his face. There was just too many draw-backs to being this pale in Gilbert's opinion, and the amount blushes showed up on his face was just one of them. _Heh, at least I don't blush as bright as Lovino. Geez, I don't even get it, he's _tanned _but he still manages to look like a _tomato _when he blushes._

Gilbert walked back to the lounge, thanking the fact that they let him hang out in his room without someone watching. When he got back to the lounge, he heard a Disney movie going and peeking in he couldn't help but smirk at Cinderella playing on the T.V.

The only one who seemed really into it was, surprisingly, Arthur who sat riveted. That _other _kid looked mildly curious, and was watching it like someone watching for the first time. Matt, on the other hand, looked like he wanted to shoot himself, and he kept on shaking his head at the screen. When a song popped up, he looked so murderous that Gilbert decided it was time to step in before the T.V was destroyed.

"Who chose Cinderella?" Gilbert asked, strolling into the room.

"Arthur." Matthew gritted out through clenched teeth. "There was a vote, Ivan, Carlos and Arthur voted for it. Toris stayed neutral since he's never seen it."

Gilbert raised his eyebrows, internally reeling. The only person which surprised him was Carlos. Braginski didn't even surprise him, because he knew he was weird and he'd long since stopped questioning the shit he did.

"For _shame _'Los! There are a lot cooler Disney movies in the collection, and you voted for this one!?" Gilbert snapped, turning towards the only staff he had an ounce of respect for. The staff in question was lounging on a chair, and he simply shrugged off Gilbert's accusation.

"I like the 'Bibity Bobity Bo' song." He explained simply, which made Gilbert deflate a bit. If he was honest with himself, Gilbert had to admit he liked that song too, and those mice were really cute as well...

"So why'd you decide to drop in?" Carlos asked, which made Gilbert shake himself and remember why he walked into the lounge in the first place. _Focus Gilbert, stay on track for once!_

"I need to take a shower." Gilbert said simply, purposefully not looking at the Kid so he could keep his cool.

"Yeah, of course- wait, Matteo, you'll need to come too. Do you need a shower?" Carlos asked, looking towards Matt who seemed like he'd take any excuse to get out of the room.

"Actually, I do. While I hate taking showers at night, I couldn't take one this morning."

"Really?" Gilbert asked, "Why?"

"I didn't time it right, and all the showers were full with the other program's patients." Matt said, blushing a bit. _Yep, blushes look a lot better on him then they do on me. It'd be nice to see that again. _Gilbert thought, immediately thinking up schemes to make Matt blush again.

"Yeah, that happens. Those kids have a set shower schedule, and there have been more boys in that program then usual." Gilbert said, slightly distracted.

"So d'you guys wanna go down to grab your stuff? I'll grab the keys first." Carlos asked, and when both boys nodded he pulled himself off the couch to head to the reception area.

"Thank you." Matt said sincerely to Gilbert as they left the room.

"Why?" Gilbert asked, genuinely confused.

"Well, you might've not meant it, but you got me out of that room. I swear I was about to trash that movie..." Matt grumbled, trailing off with a frown, which made Gilbert chuckle.

"So what's the deal with Cinderella?" Gilbert asked with a smirk, falling in-step beside Matt as they were re-joined by Carlos and they made there way down the hallway.

"The singing." Matt groused, and if Gilbert could believe his eyes he could've sworn there was a pout developing here.

Instead of commenting, Gilbert just snickered and shook his head and then confidently strolled into Matt's room before the kid since it seemed Carlos was heading there first.

"Kay, Matteo, do you know which key opens your cupboard?"

"I think it's the small, square, gold one." Matt said, looking a bit unsure. Gilbert, in the meanwhile, was pretending he wasn't paying attention, though in reality he was keeping a keen eye on the goings on. This information could be very useful later.

"Yep, that's the one." Carlos said, opening it up and stepping aside. Gilbert could only raise his eyebrows at how organized everything was, and how messy it made Gilbert's seem in comparison. While most people expected otherwise, Gilbert actually wasn't that messy. He blamed his brother for that: his room used to be _so_ messy that his OCD little bro would feel the need to go in and clean it. So, he finally started keeping it clean enough to satisfy West. Relative cleanliness and neatness just became a habit after that, because what older brother wants there little bro going through his stuff?

After Matt got his stuff they went to Gilbert's, and then they made there way to the bathroom.

Matt had quickly brushed his teeth before jumping into the shower to change out of his clothes. Gilbert couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, though he didn't exactly know what he'd been expecting. Most guys would at least strip down to their boxers before jumping into the shower stall if their were other guys in the bathroom, but Gilbert could've figured Matt would be too shy for that.

Whatever disappointment he'd been feeling though was wiped away when he heard the kid humming in the stall next to him.

Gilbert couldn't quite place the tone and he wished there was actual words, but still his voice was really nice. It was soft and pleasant, though still rich with undertones at the same time... kind of like birdsong in the morning. Gilbert had always loved birds, even before Alder._ The kid sounds exactly like a bird... heh, I think I've finally found the perfect nickname for him..._

**o.0.o**

**A/N: So I was writing this chapter, feeling really happy that I was on a writing streak and I was halfway done, when I was away without internet for a week. That kindof put a damper on my writing for a while... and then when I started writing, it just wouldn't end. And when I say it was long it was 39 pages kindof long, so I cut it in two after some great advice by my editor. So Chapter 9 is complete and even edited (It just needs some finishing touches), so I can pretty much put it up any time, though I'll probably wait a lil' bit. **

**And, because someone was asking about him, Gilbird will make an appearances the very beginning on the next chapter. He just, **_**just**_** didn't make the cut for this chappie.**

**Eheh, what also didn't quite make it into the chapter was the PruCan that was promised. Y'see, it is written into the chapter, and like Gilbird it didn't make it into this one. There is some in this, but trust me, it's only a hint of what's to come. And I can actually promise you more since, like I said, it's already written into the next chapter. **

**Also, like promised, thankyou to everyone who reviewed, and to ****luckycat222****, ****Spiritualnekohime4****, ****Shiralala****, ****StringOfFate****, ****i-Spit-on-Fire****, ****NotascrazyasI****, ****tomatogirl**** and ****The Gargoyle Alchemist**** for reviewing last chapter!**

**And, to ****tomatogirl****,**

**I really loved your reviews but I couldn't send a PM to thank you because you were on Guest and not logged in, so I hope you see this to know that I did see your reviews and I really appreciated them :D**

**Thanks for ****Someone's Black Kettle**** for the lovely edits and ideas!**


	11. Adventure and the Unexpected

**Warnings: Same as usual, a decent amount of swearing.**

**Disclaimer: Pffftttt the only this that I own is the plot, considering I'm basing the place on somewhere real.**

**o.0.o**

It was now nighttime and Gilbert was in his room sneakily preparing for this night's adventure with Matt.

He was just checking the waistband of his pants to make sure the keycard that he'd nicked from Antonio was still there when he heard a meow from his doorway.

Gilbert wasn't even surprised at this point: one of Heracles cats-he only owned four of them, the rest he only gave food to or they simply followed him around-had taken a liking to Gilbert, and she would visit him most nights. More often then not the little hunter would have a present for him in the form of a dead mouse or bird (which pissed him off), so when he saw the yellow fluff ball in Artemis' mouth he only sighed and walked over, opening up his hand for the cat to drop the dead bird in.

"Poor thing," Gilbert muttered to himself, bringing the bird closer to his face, "Not even fully grown yet. Huh, it's a canary too... and it's not dead!" Gilbert exclaimed, only just stopping himself from shouting in his excitement as the little guy twitched a bit and opened his eyes.

"Hey there." Gilbert stated as the bird looked up at him before twitching and getting up onto it's legs. "You don't even seem to be injured! Well, you're probably hungry, I promise I'll find you some food soon."

In response, the bird nipped at Gilbert's fingers with a little tweet. Then, with a bit of a struggle on wings that aren't quite developed yet, the little yellow fluff-ball managed to flap it's way to Gilbert's head where it settled in his hair. Gilbert just _knew _that refusing to get a haircut before coming to the hospital was a good idea!

"Huh, I guess it's a good thing that I didn't get a hair-cut before I got checked in here." Gilbert said to the bird, voices his thoughts. The little guy seemed to agree for he _cheeped_ in response as Gilbert petted him.

"I wonder what I'll name ya?" Gilbert questioned out loud, walking back towards his bed to sit down. After a few minutes of thought, Gilbert snapped his fingers in success. "Of course! You, the yellow fluff ball of room 11, will be known as Gilbird!"

After a few minutes, the glow that came with giving something an awesome name receded, and Gilbert realized he had fully forgotten about the planned adventure.

"Aw crap!"

**o.0.o**

Matthew, for once, found himself blissfully asleep.

He was also in the middle of a very exciting dream, where Gilbert, Elizaveta and himself performed a Great Escape, hospital style. He was so absorbed in his dream that when he was shaken awake to find himself staring up at Gibert, he wasn't even mad. Just very, very confused.

"Gil?" Matthew asked blearily, putting on his glasses and sitting up fully.

"Er, sorry Birdie, I would've come in sooner but I found something pretty cool." Gilbert said, starting out apologetic, but that was quickly replaced with excitement. It was just then that Matthew looked up and noticed a small, yellow fluff ball in Gilbert's hair. _That wasn't there before... wait, _what _did he call me just then?_

"Um, Gil, first off, why is there a bird on your head, and did you call me '_Birdie' _of all things?" Matthew asked, feeling himself nearing exasperation.

Gilbert just smiled and scooped up the little bird into his hand so Matthew could get a closer look. "Yeah, it's a bit ironic, isn't it? I figured out the perfect nickname for you just before Artemis brings me this little guy."

"Wait, what!? Perfect nickname? How'd figure that? And are you saying the_ Greek Goddess of the hunt_ brought you that bird?"

"Oh, you know some Greek mythology?" Gilbert asked, totally dodging the important question and playing innocent. Matthew would've actually been fooled if he couldn't see the smirk Gilbert was trying to hide behind the small canary.

"Yes, I like Greek mythology..." Matthew muttered, deciding he'd let Gilbert play his game.

"Well _Birdie_, out of all those cats that follow the Cat Man, only four are actually named 'cause those are the only four he owns. The others he just calls his 'camp followers,' though he should really stop feedin' them. Anyways, Heracles is a nut for the old gods, so he called those four cat's, Athena: the biter, Poseidon: the fucked up cat who loves water, Artemis: the little hunter whose taken a liking to me, and Apollo: Artemis' twin brother."

"Yes, _okay_, but why did you call me _Birdie_." Matthew groused, now getting annoyed.

"It's 'cause you're like one. You got those slender fingers, you're quiet, though when you talk you have a sing-song voice, and speaking of voices you sound _exactly_ like a song bird when you_ sing in the shower_." Gilbert finished off, a triumphant smirk on his face that made Matthew deflate a bit.

"So... you heard that?" Matthew muttered, feeling a bit sheepish and trying to get himself to accept this new, and apparently well deserved, nickname.

"Well, yeah, you were in the shower stall right next to me. I really wish you were singin' some words though. If your voice is that good just humming I wanna hear what you sound like actually singing."

"Well, ah, I actually don't know how good my voice is. I've never actually sung in front of anyone, besides family, of course."

"And they didn't tell you how good you are!?" Gilbert exclaimed, looking a bit ticked off.

"Well, yeah, but they're my family, they're _supposed _to say that I have a great voice, even if I don't. And my brother always teases me for singing in the shower..." Matthew muttered, trailing off.

"Yeah, well you have a great voice from where I'm standing. Anyways, we're running out of time!"

"What for?" Matthew asked, thinking back to that dream. _This is exactly how the dream started! Well,__ minus that interesting new nickname and the debate about my singing voice..._

"You haven't seen much of the hospital, right?" Gilbert asked, mischief bright in his eyes.

_Huh, so no great escape then. Oh well. _"...Nope."

"_Kesesese_, well let's remedy that, shall we?" Gilbert said with a growing smirk, pulling what looked like a key-card from the waistband of his pants and brandishing it triumphantly.

"Gilbert, is that a _key-card_?" Mathew squeaked, his voice double it's normal volume.

"Geese, I can't believe I'm saying this, but, Birdie, keep it down!" Gilbert grumbled, glancing over his shoulder to the open doorway. "Natalia has gone home, Heracles is asleep at the front desk and the security guard by the front entrance is probably dozing, though we won't be leaving that way."

"Well, if they're both asleep, why _wouldn't_ we go out the front?"

"It's too risky." Gilbert stated simply with a shake of his head. "The security guard never sleeps that deeply... trust me, I know. And with this," Gilbert said, raising the key-card up again, "We can go out the back and travel around those lesser used hallways. They're like a maze and really fun to explore at night! And since you're with me, there's no way you'll get lost."

"But Gil, you only moved here three years ago. Are you saying you know the hospital that well after just three years?"

Here Gilbert scoffed, which made Matthew raised his eyebrows, "Oh please, d'you think my Gramps or even _Vargas _would leave the hospital _they helped found _and not visit _at all_ for thirty-six years?"

"Well, I guess not. So he brought you and your brother with him?"

"Not at first, but we lobbed enough until he gave in. Then it became a yearly tradition. When he was at work he would just let us wander around here... though he would have my brother follow me so I wouldn't get into trouble."

"That makes sense." Matthew mused with a playful smile, which made Gilbert mock glare at him.

"Yeah, well, the night wont last forever! Lets go." Gilbert stated before gesturing towards the door in a mocking, 'after you' sign. Matthew only shook his head and then took his que, but not before he poked his head through just to be certain the coast was clear.

Matthew stopped in the middle of the hallway after a thought occurred to him though. "We're not bringing Liz?"

"Ah... no." Gilbert muttered, for some reason looking sheepish as he stopped beside Matthew.

"Have you given her this tour before?"

"No... but, y'know, she's been here long enough to know this hospital pretty well already, so I thought, well, me n' you could do it. Just us." Gilbert said, looking up at Matthew with unusually hopeful eyes.

_Something seems off here, but, oh well. It'll be nice to have an adventure with just me and Gilbert I guess. _Matthew thought, giving Gilbert his best smile before walking once again towards the end of the hallway.

With the type of confidence that is only gained from experience, Gilbert strode over to the door before swiping the card and opening said door with a smirk.

"I'm guessing you've done this before?" Matthew asked, stepping through and looking around like he had just stepped into to a new world. _I feel like I'm going through the rabbit hole, when less then a week ago the unit was the new world to experience. _

"Yep. I used to always steal my Gramp's spare key-card. It's kind of like revenge for changing a lot of the unit locks to these things. They use to have a skeleton key which would open all the locks, but my Gramps caught on that I was stealing it after me n' my Bro snuck in here at night. I'd _finally_ convinced him to break the rules and we ended up getting caught. I still don't think he's forgiven me yet..." Gilbert muttered, trailing off as he led Matthew around another corner, leaving the hallways that seemed to have offices for the doctors.

"You guys are very... different. Well, me and my brother are different, but with you two it seems a lot more extreme."

"Heh, you can say that again. My brother is the spitting image of my gramps, and that includes more then just looks. Apparently I take after my Dad… I dunno if that's a good thing or not. We're like East and West, which is what we call each other. Can you guess who's who?" Gilbert asked, smirking at Matthew.

"I think you're East." Matthew said with confidence, hiding his uncertainty. He knew he was right though as Gilbert raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"How'd you guess!?"

"When I asked you if you were German before you said you were Prussian, so I just figured you'd be East since Prussia was East Germany..." Matthew said, feeling a bit sheepish. He couldn't help but blush though when Gilbert gave him an appreciative look, a new respect in his eyes.

"Well aren't you the smart one. But I am Prussian, well partly."

"Is your grandpa Prussian?"

"Pffft, no. He would laugh in your face if you asked him that. My Gramps can trace his roots to the first Germanic tribes in the area, and he's _very _proud of it. Heck, he still practices all the old pagan rituals and believes in those old deities." Gilbert said with a snicker before getting back on track, "My grandma was Prussian, and she was the awesomest person I've ever known! She died when I was only eleven though, which is why my Gramps moved us all to Berlin."

"Oh, I'm sorry Gilbert... I've gone through something similar." Matthew muttered, steeling himself up for the inevitable. He figured he should share something personal after Gilbert told him so much about himself.

"You've lost a close grandparent?" Gilbert asked, looking curious.

"Well, no."

"Close family friend?"

"Not exactly?"

"Then what!? I'm running out people here!"

"I lost my mother." Matthew said as quietly as he could (which was very quiet indeed). But he was again reminded of his friend's apparent super-sonic hearing. Matthew could only wince as Gilbert stopped in his tracks to stare wide-eyed at Matthew.

"Your Mother!? Oh shit, Matt. I'm sorry."

"What happened to Birdie, Gil?" Matthew asked with a small smile, trying to lighten the mood. Seeing that Gilbert was having none of it though, Matthew frowned with a sigh.

"She died when I was three, Gil. I barely remember her. She became sick soon after I was born so Francis was the one taking care of me. She was just the woman in the room I was never allowed in, and then the woman in the hospital who I only visited once, right before she died."

"But you have to at least _miss_ her, right?" Gilbert asked, less surprised now though nearing on exasperation.

"Yeah, I guess I miss her... but more the _idea_ of her. Like she's still the mother I never got to know, which makes me sad, and I've seen her picture enough times to know what she looked like... but in reality there is nothing to miss. I have maybe two memories of her, tops, and my Grandparents and Francis barely talk about her... but Gil, can we talk about something else?" Matthew asked, looking beseechingly at Gilbert.

"Yeah yeah, you could've just asked, quit it with the kicked puppy look! Geese, I think I found the one thing that you and your brother have in common." Gilbert muttered, mysteriously blushing once again.

_Huh, I need to get to the bottom of that blush, but not now. I think we've done a full circle of the fifth floor. _"What now?" Matthew asked, turning to the guy who he hoped had the plan.

"You know that elevator we passed?"

"...The old, dark looking one?" Matthew asked, feeling himself pale a bit. _Oh please no._

"Yep, that's the one! We can't take the ones going to the lobby, 'cause they're glass and there's still people down there. We can't take the stairs fer the same reason. So we'll take one of these!"

"Okay, Gil, but I gotta warn you... I don't do well in small, closed-in spaces." Matthew muttered, subconsciously walking closer and closer towards Gilbert the nearer they got to the elevator.

"What, claustrophobic?" Gilbert asked, looking slightly concerned.

"I guess you could say that. But, I should be fine, as long as the light works."

"Hm, well last I checked the light worked fine... though it's been awhile since I've been on one of these."

As if on que the elevator dinged and the door opened, and to Matthew's relief the light seemed to be on.

"See! Nothing to worry about! Hey, and if you get scared, I'll let you hold my hand." Gilbert said with a smirk, which was a bit too self-satisfied for Matthew's liking.

Just as the door closed after Gilbert pressed the bottom for the ground floor, the lights sputtered and went out.

_Oh no. Oh _God _no._

"Hey Birdie, where are you? Is that you shaking? Hey, it's okay, listen to me, I'm right here. And as promised, here's my hand... ow! Birdie, not too tight!" And that went on the rest of the way down, with Gilbert keeping up a steady stream of comforting words, which Matthew only half heard. He appreciated the support that Gilbert hand provided, for it reminded him that he wasn't locked in _that_ cramped space, all those years ago.

He was so caught up in all his worries that he was startled when Gilbert pulled him from the elevator by his hand, and with some difficulty Gilbert dislodged his hand from Matthew's death-grip before placing both his hands on Matthew's shoulders.

"Hey, Birdie, what happened back there? You almost broke my hand, and you wouldn't stop shaking. Come on, you can tell me! Geez, your all sweaty and stuff, spit it out!" Gilbert asked, slipping his hands down to grip both of Matthew's arms.

"Well, if you let go of me I'll tell you. Do we have time?" Matthew muttered, calming down considerably but looking nervously at Gilberts hands gripping his arms. He really didn't feel like being restrained at the moment.

"Yep, we have all the time you need." Gilbert confirmed, removing his hands from Matthew's arms and looking strangely disappointed.

"I have pretty major anxiety issues, though it goes deeper then that..." Matthew started off before looking back towards Gilbert. "Are you sure you want to hear all of this? It's kind of a long story..." Matthew trailed off, before he squeaked as he was dragged down to the floor and forced to sit.

"Now we're comfy. Continue your damn story and don't freakin' apologize." Gilbert grumbled, settling himself in a more comfortable position on the cold tile.

Matthew just blinked owlishly at his friend, but without commenting he just gave himself a mental shake before starting where he left off, "When I was first living with my Dad and Alfred when I was four, I wasn't so sure about this new brother I had. I could barely speak any English and he was this little earnest ball of energy that tried _so _hard to get me to like him. One of those ways was organizing a game of hide-and-go seek with one of the slightly older neighbour kids who lived in the apartment next door. Even though our apartment was small, it was a great place for that game 'cause it was crammed full of all my Dads antique furniture he used to collect, which Al's Mom was 'nice enough' to ship to us after she kicked my Dad and Alfred out. Anyways, I've never played the game before, so the kid from next door told me he'd help me hide. He led me to this old chest that my Dad had which was almost full of towels and stuff, and the kid helped me in there and closed the lid. Little did I know, he had found the key to lock it."

"Ouch. Shit, what a little brat!" Gilbert spat, looking genuinely pissed off for Matthew's sake.

"He was a brat, but he was also only like six. Anyways, at first Alfred thought I was just a _really_ good hider, then he caught on that something wasn't right after our Dad couldn't find me either. So Al stormed over to the next apartment and dragged the kid back, and he beat him up until the kid confessed and gave him the key."

"Seriously?" Gilbert asked, looking mildly impressed.

"Yep. He might be a loud mouth, but he had always been there for me, even when he barely knew me. He actually was my hero that day, and after I'd been locked up in there for more hours then I'd like to believe, he definitely was a sight for sore eyes. I gave him a chance after that, and I even let myself learn English."

"What d'you mean, 'let yourself?'"

"Well, they were trying to teach me but I refused to learn. Everything was just too new and I didn't like it, and Francis always told me that English was a horrible language... but after Alfred saved me, I learned English really fast because I'm a quick learner only when I _want_ to learn something."

"Heh, you remind me of Luddy as a kid." Gilbert said, a fond look coming into his eyes.

"How so?" Matthew asked, deciding since they weren't going anywhere they might as well talk more.

"I told you he refused to learn English as a little kid, right?" When Matthew nodded in confirmation, Gilbert continued, "My Gramps bribed him with a puppy for his birthday if he learned English, and I swear he learned the language in a few weeks! He got my gramps to drive him into town and he took out all these books on how to learn English... He would sit there for hours straight reading, and he would get me to practice with him. He would say a new word until I told him he got it right."

"Why did your grandpa want you two to learn English?"

"Because of this place." Gilbert said, patting the wall behind them fondly. "He knew by the time we were born and living with him that Hiroshi's heath was shaky, and he knew he would be chosen to take on the hospital afterwards."

"So he was teaching you guy's English so that one of you could take over?"

"Not one of us, Ludwig. My Gramps new by the time I was ten-hell, he probably new it earlier, but he only brought it up when I was ten-that I wasn't cut out for this job. When he told me this like it was a big deal I laughed in his face, 'cause I figured he'd known that a long time ago. I also didn't want this job _at all_."

"You don't?"

"Are you kidding? Being cooped up in that office all day, the dreaded loads of paperwork, and having to deal with Vargas' Grandsons all the time, 'cause they're definitely getting permanent jobs here somewhere down the line. No thank you! Luddy, on the hand, seemed born to run this place. It doesn't help that my Gramps has been grooming him for this position for _ages_. Anyways, enough about me, lets have more on you. Williams, that's not a French name." Gilbert said, turning mock accusing eyes at Matthew.

"Nope, it's not." Matthew said with a grin.

"Mind explaining that?"

"Nope."

"Then, I don't know... Can you?"

"I can."

"I feel like were going in circles here, kid."

"What happened to Birdie!?"

"I swear just a few hours ago you were saying, 'why are you calling me Birdie.'"

"Speaking of Birds, is the yellow fluff ball still on your head?"

"Shh, his name is Gilbird and he's asleep."

"...You named your pet bird, Gilbird?"

"Yes, it's an awesome name, and you're dodging the original question!"

"Which was?" Matthew asked, feeling cheeky.

"Well aren't you the cheeky one tonight, Mr. Williams. But if you want to play it that way, I'll spell it out for you: How. Are. You. A. Williams. When. You. Are. French. And. Your. Dad's. A. Jones?"

"Simple: I. Have. My. Mother's. Name. And. My. Mother's. Dad. Was. Canadian. Of. English. Descent."

"Really?"

"Yep. My Grandmother came from the rich and _very _snobby Bonnefoy family, but she fell in love with my Grandfather when he came to France for schooling. Since he was poor (in their eyes), the Bonnefoy's disowned their own daughter for marrying him, and my Grandmother became estranged from her own sister, Francis' mother."

"How did Francis end up moving in with your Mother then?"

"He was caught making out with another student in his rich private school."

"Doesn't that happen all the time? Even if it's a fancy private school, you can't stop hormones."

"He was caught with another boy. In a _catholic_ private school."

"Ohhhh. Well that explains it." Gilbert said with a smirk.

"Yep. He did it on purpose too. Francis has always loved causing havoc and he loved getting under his parent's skin even more."

"And I bet that did the trick."

"Yep. At the age of thirteen they kicked him out. They told him since he was just like his aunt he should go live with her, so he did. He's pretty smart, and he's good at tracking down people. He managed to track down my grandmother, though she wasn't living too far away. What's impressive is that later he managed to track down my Dad who was living all the way in Nantucket... but that's a story for another time."

"Yeah, that's true, we gotta get a move on. Antonio has a shift at five in the morning, which means he probably pulled an all-nighter so he can get here on time, so he could even be here now, I don't know."

"Okay, which way now, oh mighty explorer?"

"Oh, ha ha, very funny. We'll go this way."

Just as they turned the corner, Matthew was reminded of that phrase, 'speak of the devil for he shall appear,' because right around the corner was Antonio, who seemed none too pleased to see them.

"Matthew, Gilbert!? Wait, Gilbert, is there a little bird in your hair?" Antonio asked, turning from annoyed to confused and slightly amazed in seconds.

"It's a boy, he's a canary, and his name is Gilbird." Gilbert explained simply, scooping up the little bird who seemed to be just waking up.

"...What if _he _poos on your head, Gilbert?" Antonio asked, petting Gilbird and cooing all the while.

"Well, I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it. I'd have to train him not to I guess."

_Maybe we're in the clear! _Matthew thought with growing hope at how distracted Antonio seemed.

"Hey, wait a second, how did you guys get off unit!?" Antonio snapped, popping Matthew's little bubble of hope.

"You really shouldn't keep your key card lying around, it's very unprofessional." Gilbert said, mock chidingly. Matthew had the sinking suspicion that Gilbert was going to try and talk their way out of this mess. And fail. Miserably.

"My key card!?" Antonio exclaimed, quickly doing a search of his pockets. "Gilbert, give it-"

"What are all you bastards doing here, crowding up the hallway?" A voice groused. A very _familiar_ voice.

"Lovino!? What are you doing here!?" Antonio said, turning away from the duo. Matthew, fully wanting to hear the explanation, stayed put, until he felt himself dragged off by the hand by Gilbert and shoved into the nearest supply closet.

"Hey!" Matthew snapped quietly, turning annoyed eyes on Gilbert.

"What d'you mean, 'hey?' You were just standing there when we had that opportunity to fully bolt out of there. Now we're stuck in this closet."

Matthew paled at this and Gilbert face-palmed. "Me and my big mouth." Gilbert grumbled before pulling Matthew near him and opening the door a crack. "See, we can see out and listen to Antonio and Lovino's lover's spat."

"Lover's spat?" Matthew asked, fully distracted.

"_Sh_, just watch." Gilbert muttered, pulling Matthew even closer so they could both see out the crack. And so they watched.

"I can't believe you came in! You still look pretty sick." Antonio started, looking like he was stopping himself from reaching for Lovino.

"Hey, they told me you did something stupid and got yourself a fuckin' early shift, and I couldn't sleep. Don't look at me like I'm going to fall down at any second! I feel a lot better."

"Just because you're so young, you're not indestructible, Lovino-"

"So _young_!? What are you getting at, bastard!? And why are you calling me Lovino all of a sudden, we have a fuckin' agreement!"

"Lovino- alright, _Lovi- _stop glaring at me! I know that you're only nineteen. You could've told me that... before I... before we..."

"What, before_ you asked me out_!?" Lovino said, laughing in Antonio's face. "Geese Antonio, I figured an age-gap would be the _least_ of your worries. You asked out a _student_. Not just any student, the one you were _supervising_. It wasn't like I was fuckin' hiding it from you, I just didn't think it was an issue!"

"Well maybe if you'd told me-"

"What, you wouldn't have asked me out? Don't make me laugh, Antonio. You chased after me like a lovesick puppy before I got sick of it and told you to ask me out already! You were starting to gain too much unwanted attention... And anyways, we haven't actually gone on a real date yet! Get your shit together and figure out if a seven-year age gap _and _the rule breaking is something you want to deal with. Then find me. In the meantime we have a shift to complete... speaking of which, where'd those two kids go?"

"Ah, crap, they must've run off while we're distracted. Uhm, there's still an hour to kill..."

"Which we will kill, separately. On unit, Antonio, this never happened."

"Yes, I know." Antonio said with a sad sigh as he watched Lovino walk away. After a few minutes of standing there looking so miserable that all Matthew wanted to do was hug him, he finally walked off in the opposite direction.

Matthew felt himself relax, and he turned his head towards Gilbert to tell him the coast was clear, only to be shocked at how close their faces were. If Matthew's face was angled slightly differently, he would've ended up kissing Gilbert just then.

_Everything feels really intense right now. Why is Gilbert looking at me like that? Our noses are touching! Wait, is he leaning closer? I really don't know what to do__!_

Completely unsure about this totally foreign situation, Matthew pulled back a bit.

"Gil?" Matthew asked, wanting some reassurance from his friend. Reassurance for what though, Matthew wasn't sure.

Gilbert blinked owlishly, like he was just waking up from some kind of spell. Only then did he seem to realize the position him and Matthew were in. He pulled back even further with that same mysterious blush (though this one deeper then the others) and his same cocky grin... more strained then usual though.

"Ehehe, what are we doing here still! There's still more hospital to explore and we only have an hour!" He explained, and with out another word he bolted off.

Matthew bolted off after him, but not before looking down at his hand, and wishing Gilbert was holding it again.

**o.0.o**

They ended up stumbling back into the unit just before Antonio and Lovino came in, who were the first staff to arrive.

Gilbert, who felt bad for stealing Antonio's key-card, left it on his desk in his room before he collapsed onto his bed, hoping that Antonio would see it. Or at the very least, one of the other staff would find it, thinking that Antonio had left it somewhere once again.

Even though Gilbert was more tired than he'd thought possible, he didn't fall asleep right away. As he lay there he couldn't help but think of the night, of all the things him and Matthew talked about and all those _could've's_ that almost happened.

_Shit, I almost ended up kissing him. And if his face was angled just a bit differently _Matt _would've kiss _me_! But it would've been accidental, though if I did it I don't think I would've been able to talk my way out of it. Would I even want to? I mean, If that happened it would save me from making an ass out of my self trying to confess to him somewhere down the line… fuck, I'm way too awesome for this..._

Just as Gilbert felt himself slip into sleep, Antonio and Lovino popped into the room. Gilbert's last thought had to do with how good they were at pretending nothing happened, and how maybe confessing wasn't always a good thing to do.

**o.0.o**

In the next day, Lovino had convinced Antonio to cover for Matthew and Gilbert, saying that they would just get in trouble for it anyways. Antonio, probably because he was feeling pretty miserable still, let Matthew sleep in_, _and since Gilbert's staff was late, he was allowed to sleep in as well.

Apparently, they weren't the only ones sleeping in, for when Gilbert and Matthew stumbled in for breakfast, they found Arthur, looking sleepy, but still managing to look peeved.

"First that big _brute_ let me sleep in, and now he's getting me a special breakfast since the diet department screwed up my order! I was also complaining about not getting tea here and he said he'd get me some... that's not suppose to happen, right?" Arthur asked, looking unsure of himself.

"Nope." Gilbert replied, smirking. "But that's just one of the many benefits of having Ivan like you: yeah, it can feel creepy at times, but if you play your cards right you can get a lot of things we're technically not suppose to have. It's not like he's smuggling the tea from off unit or anything, there's tea and a kettle in the staff lounge."

"Well... that's not exactly reassuring, but I'll take your word for it." Arthur muttered, and Matthew was glad he looked a bit more comfortable.

"Here's you tea~!" Ivan sing-songed cheerfully as he walked into the room, placing the mug of what smelled like Earl Grey in front of Arthur as well his tray. "And look what I found in the kitchen."

"...English muffins?" Arthur asked, looking at the English muffin and butter packets like they'd explode.

"Yes! Since you're English! Now, here's some milk for the tea, but you can't have any sugar." Ivan said, nudging the milk carton towards Arthur and looking like the lack of sugar was the gravest thing in the world.

"...I think I'll manage." Arthur grumbled, keeping a weary eye on Ivan as he took out the tea bag and added some milk. When he took a sip of the tea though, his face immediately morphed into such a serene look of content that Matthew almost choked on his Cheerios in surprise. _He always looks so moody all the time, that face just doesn't seem right. _

After Breakfast Matthew and Gilbert played each other in a few rounds of crazy-eights while Ivan and Arthur read on the couch. Elizaveta was off in the classroom today, and Toris was apparently having a very long meeting with the doctors. It was after the third game had ended that Matthew realized he hadn't seen Antonio or Lovnio since they woke him up, and he had no idea who Gilbert's staff was.

"Where are the other staff?"

"You mean my staff and Antonio?" Gilbert asked, shuffling the cards.

"Yeah."

"Antonio asked Ivan to keep an eye on you so he could finish all the paperwork he's been blowing off, so Lovino ran off to the lobby so he wouldn't have to help. They told me I've been given Sadiq, so Carlos can get a break."

"Sadiq?" Matthew asked, not really knowing why he felt surprised. It made sense that he hasn't met all the staff yet.

"Yep, he's probably the only staff you haven't met that works mainly on this side of the unit. He's a total nut-job though, and he's going to get his ass fired soon. He only works part-time but when he _does _have a shift he's late. Or he doesn't show up."

"You don't seem to like him that much."

"We get along alright, he's the only other staff they assign me to. But he is going to get his ass fired, which leaves me with only Carlos."

"What about Antonio?"

"I guess so... but me and Lovino had a fight and I haven't really forgiven him yet for calling me a brat." Gilbert muttered, looking stubborn.

"But if Sadiq gets fired..." Matthew coaxed, trailing off encouragingly.

"Yeah, yeah. If he doesn't show up in an hour, I'll ask to share Antonio with you."

"Which gives us plenty of time for our family meeting, Mr. Williams. Sadiq actually called in today." Dr. Edelstein said as he walked into the room, with not only Katyusha and Yao at his back, but also Matthew's Dad and Francis.

"Hey, Specs! Fancy seeing you here!" Gilbert called mockingly, which the doctor only responded with a delicate role of his eyes.

"Don't think that since you woke up late you got out of your meeting, Beilschmidt. It'll happen after, whether you want it to or not." Dr. Edelstein warned gravely as he turned on his heel and walked out the room, leaving Matthew to, once again, follow him.

The meeting ended up not being held in his room, but in one of the meeting rooms in the only hallway Matthew hasn't explored on unit. It was actually quite boring in Matthew's opinion, and not deserving of the hype and stress it received. Matthew had to make a conscious effort to not spout out about his adventure last night, only so he could stir things up a bit.

After the meeting Matthew said goodbye to Francis and his Dad who couldn't stay and visit, then he went back to the lounge. Gilbert refused to go to his meeting, and surprisingly enough, it was Katyusha who strong-armed him into coming.

Gilbert got back just as lunch was brought up, where the duo was rejoined by Elizaveta. Matthew also got to meet the two outpatients, as well as the student teacher who was doing his placement here.

Berwald was a very tall, stoic-looking boy from Sweden. He was Matthew's age, and if he could be understood around his thick accent, he kept on calling the student teacher, Tino, his 'wife.' Matthew wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, because Tino would only smile and laugh lightly whenever it happened.

Tino was a small, very friendly looking young man from Finland. He actually wasn't much older then the kids in the lounge, for he completed high school and University early. Apparently his cousin from Norway was actually the teacher in-charge of the classroom, but lately he'd been letting Tino take charge.

The other inpatient was definitely the most startling though: She was a young girl from Switzerland (originally from Liechtenstein though), she was 12 and her name was Lili _Zwingli_. Apparently she was the younger sister to Vash Zwingli as well his spitting image, and she's also under his care after their parents died. Matthew was quite relieved to see that she was nothing like her older brother. She was extremely sweet and she doodled pictures of little furry animals and butterflies while she ate.

Nothing much happened after lunch, and it was just a matter of killing time until dinner.

At 5pm, all the crisis patients who weren't in the lounge made their way over, and the ones who were in the lounge quickly claimed places at the table.

And then they waited.

First they killed time as Elizaveta told the group that since she had been here for so long without a pass, they were switching her two-night overnight pass from Wednesday-Friday to Tuesday-Thursday. Then, after she checks in with the doctors at the end of her pass, they were giving her the rest of the week off before coming back as an outpatient on Monday.

At 5:15pm, all the crisis patients were _still _waiting, with nothing to talk about, sitting forlorn in squished quarters, watching the hands on the clock turn slowly, all of them very hungry.

Dinner should've been up fifteen minutes ago, but apparently there had been a crisis involving exploding pasta in the diet department. For some unfathomable reason, Gilbert seemed to find that whole situation hilarious, for after hearing the news he had exploded into a laughing fit, and now, even though it had died off quite a few minutes ago, he still had a thoroughly amused look on his face.

"Fuck, Antonio, I gotta pee." Gilbert announced randomly in the middle of a slightly one-sided conversation between the three friends. This conversation was one-sided for Gilbert was doing most of the talking while Matthew and Elizaveta listened and tried to hide how amused they were.

Antonio just smiled and got up to trail Gilbert off to the washroom, as well as Lovino, though not half as happily. He had been immersed in the cooking show he had been watching, and while he didn't actually complain outwardly, everyone in the lounge could hear his dark mutterings in Italian as he left the room, dragging his feet as he went.

"So, Matthew," Elizaveta started off out of the blue, "If you don't mind me asking, but what brought you to the hospital? You seem so, ah, put together." Matthew looked down and fiddled shyly with the hem of his p.j. shirt, trying to think of a proper answer.

"Well..." He started off, looking up from his lap, "They do say it's always the quiet ones." He finally managed, a half smile on his face. Elizaveta burst into giggles at this, and Matthew mentally patted himself on the back for coming up with a good answer when he really didn't want to tell the whole story again.

"They say I suffer from anxiety, though." Matthew said when Elizaveta's laughter had died down, feeling like he should give her something. Matthew was grateful when Liz just nodded sympathetically instead of commenting. "Er, why are you here?" Matthew asked nervously.

Matthew was pretty surprised when Liz grinned at this, "Acute yaoi addiction." She practically purred, getting that same, slightly disturbing, look in her eyes. "But seriously," she said, grin leaving to be replaced with a more serious expression, "Shit happened."

Matthew nodded understandably, and then cocked his head in confusion when Elizaveta stood up. "I'm going to hang out in my room for a bit, pack up for my overnight pass. I don't think the foods coming up anytime soon, anyways." She grumbled, passing Gilbert who had just walked in.

Gilbert sent her a confused look as she walked off, but when he looked at the table and saw that their dinner wasn't up yet, he frowned, looking extremely put out. "God damnit! I'm hungry." He muttered angrily, a whine creeping into his voice as he glared evilly at the table.

Although Matthew was also hungry, he still felt sympathy for his peer and decided to, at the very least, distract him.

"Ah, Gil, what brought you here?" Matthew asked, not feeling half as nervous as he had been when asking Liz the same question. It's just that Gilbert seemed so open to talking about anything, and Matthew half considered it payback for not getting any sleep last night due to Gilbert's crazy scheme. He made it clear in the look he shot Gilbert that this was the case.

Gilbert just grinned and sat down, looking like he had before he told the story of the hospitals founding. "Well, I might've spent a week telling everybody to call me 'Prussia', and that I was lord of everything awesome, which is true! ...At least the last part. And maybe, just _maybe_, I might've gotten expelled for mooning everybody at an assembly." He stated flippantly, smirking when Matthew snorted with laughter.

After the laughter died down though, Gilbert's face became more serious. "So basically I was pretty fuckin' manic. You say you got diagnosed with anxiety here, right?" When Matthew nodded, becoming more serious himself, Gilbert continued, "They don't know what to diagnose me with. First, they said it was bi-polar disorder. But then bi-polar medication didn't do shit except make me hungry and keep me awake! So they finally started listening to me when I tell them that I haven't actually been depressed a day in my life! So this leaves 'em stumped and they had to scramble looking for another label!"

"Did they find another one?" Matthew asked curiously.

"Nope!" Gilbert chirped happily. "I'm not only Gilbert the Awesome, but Gilbert the unlabelled! But I just tell people I have Mania. It sounds cooler that way."

"Aren't... aren't we not supposed to talk about those thing?" Toris asked, startling Matthew. He'd forgotten his friend and Arthur were here as well, and he immediately felt ashamed for himself.

"When the staff don't say anything, we're in the clear." Gilbert snapped, sending an annoyed glare towards Toris.

"Be that as it may, when the only staff in the room are fast asleep, don't you think that little rule is notwithstanding?" Arthur snarked from the head of the table, glancing over his shoulder at the two snoring staff members. Lovnio had his head on Antonio's shoulder and was snuggled close to the nurses side, and said nurse had his arm loosely draped around the student. Matthew knew that if Liz was here she would coo. Or drool. You never knew with her.

"Yep. I don't know any two people that can fall asleep that fast." Gilbert said, looking at his and Matthew's shared staff fondly.

"Shouldn't this be considered irresponsible? Ivan left them in-charge of watching us, Antonio will get in trouble again. I really don't want to see that again." Arthur said, looking a bit worried, which made Matthew cock his head in confusion. _Was it really that bad? Well if it was, I'm glad I missed it._

"We'd cover for them, of course! Lovino just got over being sick and Antonio had a shift at five this morning, so if we see Ivan coming back we'll shake them awake. Simple." Gilbert explained, scooting his chair to the end of the table so he could see the way out.

"I really can't get in-trouble right now-" Toris explained, squirming in his chair, though he was promptly cut off by Gilbert.

"What d'you mean, 'can't get in-trouble,' it's not like they can kick us out for this!"

"It's why I'm here, actually. Someone torched an old house in my neighbourhood and I got accused of it because of my diagnosis of BDP. Borderline personality disorder. They put me here under supervision to see if I seem like the type of person who would do something like that." Toris explained, looking to Matthew that he has had to give this explanation many times before. Still, Matthew felt the need to comfort his new friend, so he placed a hand on Toris' tense shoulder that relaxed a bit.

"Well that's a load of bad luck." Arthur murmured with a nod, which seemed his own form of comfort. Gilbert, on the other hand, was looking wide-eyed at Toris.

"Which... which neighbourhood?"

**o.0.o**

Nothing much happened for the next day and a bit, not even the nightly adventures. After that time where Gilbert asked Toris what neighbourhood the fire was in, he had been acting very odd.

Seeing as he couldn't sleep that night, Matthew actually went to take the initiative of sneaking out to Gilbert's room. His friend seemed calmer then he had been when he had bolted out of the lounge after dinner, and Matthew could only chuckle at the heart-warming scene.

Gilbert had Gilbird in hand and he was feeding him scraps from his dinner, talking to the bird and cooing. Yes, cooing.

"I hope I'm not interrupting..." Matthew said to announce his presence, stepping fully into the room.

"Hey, you! I mean Matt... erm, Birdie." Gilbert said, startling a bit and putting his bird back into his hair.

"Er, yes, me... Gil, are you okay?" Matthew asked, feeling concerned.

"Okay, yeah! I'm just peachy! You... you should get some sleep though, we barely got any last night.

Even though Matthew had swallowed most of the hurt as he nodded agreement, he couldn't hide all of it, and he winced when Gilbert's eyes widened.

"Hey now, it has nothing to do with you! I just... I think I did something wrong, and I need to sort it out, alright? You're still my friend."

"Alright, I'll take your word for it. But if you are in trouble, and since I am your friend... you know you can tell me anything, right? I'm good with keeping secrets." Matthew said sincerely, keeping his eyes wide and open.

"Yeah, I know. Just not now, kay? I don't want you to get in trouble. But you should get some sleep Birdie, it's late."

And with that Matthew took Gilbert's advice and went back to his room, though he was so worried that he barely slept the rest of the night.

Wednesday took up the torch from the night before and remained uneventful... and pretty lonely as well.

Elizaveta was gone on her pass; Gilbert would barely talk; Toris looked worried all the time; and Arthur had Ivan to deal with.

After another night with Gilbert not showing up, Matthew was expecting more of the same for Thursday, but thankfully he was proved wrong.

Matthew had been eating his breakfast alone in the lounge until he got distracted by the game cupboard, which was left open. Deciding to find a game that would maybe cheer Gilbert up to play after breakfast, he found himself so immersed in the selection when the aforementioned Albino barrelled right into him and pulled him into an awkward side-hug.

"It's horrible! Just horrible!" The Albino wailed before going into a fit of obviously fake sobbing.

"Ah... What happened?" Matthew asked hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"They told me I have to be here another week. Fuck, while Liz is my friend, and I don't hold it against her, I don't want to be here as long as she was! Hell, I'm really glad she got discharged finally, 'cause she was here for six weeks. SIX weeks Matt! No one deserves to be here that long. This place is not like those other mental hospitals, people don't just stay here for months! I'm going into my fourth week... I wanna get out of here, Fuck!" Gilbert finished, finally trailing off.

Matthew's mouth made a perfect 'o' of surprise, and he awkwardly turned around in Gilbert's arms so he was facing him and he finally returned the hug, opting out of saying anything. Because he realized, while the sobbing had been fake, the pain was real, and he knew that Gilbert probably needed the comfort.

They stood like that for a bit, and Matthew was very, _very_ thankful he had Heracles for this morning, who had been his night-staff last night and was now fast asleep on the couch. He probably would've died of embarrassment if anyone else was here.

"So Liz was discharged already?" Matthew asked after awhile, starting to feel somewhat claustrophobic in the hug but not knowing how to end it. Gilbert seemed to sense this for he finally ended the hug with a slightly awkward laugh.

"_Kesee_, Yep! I dunno why they had her meeting so early, but she was discharged even before you were awake. I bumped into her in the hallway when she was getting out of her meeting. Liz told me to give you the good news, and I would've right away, but after that family meeting from hell I was kind of distracted..."

Part of Matthew wanted to comment on how his friend seemed a lot better than when he first ran into the room, but just then Toris and Arthur walked in, so Matthew bit his tongue.

Matthew figured he'd let this slide, because really, he was just glad to have his friend back.

**o.0.o**

**A/N: Delays, delays, delays, so many delays. I would've had this out sooner but those delays took the form of; General laziness, my friend's Dad kicking her out leaving me to take care of her cat, feeling sick, another friends graduation party and the hangover that followed, my 18****th**** birthday, watching my cities hockey team be booted out of the playoffs after doing SO well (I still love you guys!)… and a reliance to my phone. While I love having an iphone, the one thing you can't do is post new chapters. Trust me, I've tried. **

**I'm not feeling that great so I'm gonna make this short: Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! We are 1 review away to 40 reviews guys, while the story was only at 30 last chapter :D. All your lovely reviews make my day and they give me the motivation to write, which I'll need since I'm going in blind these next few chapters. I know where the plots going and how it'll end, but all the dialogue and things I wanted to put into the story since the beginning are used up.**

**As always, thanks to ****Someone's Black Kettle**** for editing as well as story support and advice. If you guys like Gerita as well as Spamano, check out her stories! They are awesome, and historical. You'll learn a lot as well as reading a very entertaining story!**


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